Strikers: It's a Trap!
by Cathedralsquares
Summary: Lured to the planet of Otharis II by a distress call from the planet's PDF, the girls of the 256th Strikers find themselves fighting against the Great Devourer for their lives and for each other. Please read and review, I'll give you a cookie if you do!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**The FNG**

"Nanoka! Stay with me Nanoka!" Veroncia shouted, shaking the limp woman in her arms. "Medic! Medic, God-Emperor damn you!" She cried over and over into the night. The woman in her arms was heavy, straining both her muscles and the servos in her armor, but she didn't care about the pain. Black ichor pooled around the pair, in the firelight of a hundred burning buildings the woman's blood glistened before dripping into the pool, her scarlet life steadily running down her gauntlets. Veronica's hands were stained with it. A high-pitched whine sounded, echoing over the battlefield with a bright passing flash. In that moment the body of a Carnifex lie illuminated in the background, its body riddled with Autocannon holes. Veronica hugged Nanoka's body tight, not caring if the blood stained her armor. Tears streaked down her dusty cheeks leaving glistening trails of their passing.

The snapping of ravenous maws and the scrape of claws on the city's asphalt streets came closer. Horrifying creatures, covered in chitin from grotesque head to clawed foot, their vicious scything claws gleaming crimson in the firelight, shadows cast all around the pair. Sobbing, she squeezed Nanoka's lifeless body, managing to choke out only one word as the ring was tightened.

"_Nanoka…"_

--

"Striker First Class Nanoka Yoshioka, reporting for duty as ordered!" Her heels clicked together as she came to rigid attention, her body ramrod straight. She held her pose, completing it by touching her right hand to her right eyebrow, the arm perfectly straight. The woman in front of her looked up from the datascreen that cast a faint blue light across her features and caused the Master Sergeant's pins to gleam off her collar.

"Striker First Class Nanoka, eh? Lemme guess, you're from Airship Honshu." The seated woman folded her hands, resting her chin on steeple fingers. She wore the same chocolate-colored coat over a white shirt with russet tie that Nanoka did, but with a great deal more ribbons and medals. "Let's see here," She said slowly, her attention grabbed by the information spreading across the datascreen. "Yeah… Yoshioka, Nanoka, age seventeen, Blood Type O –congratulations on having my Blood Type by the way- Uh…" She stared a little more intently at the screen. "Well this can't be right." She wheeled the chair sharply, turning her back to Nanoka, her hands moving across a different datascreen.

"Ms. Yoshioka, have you ever seen combat?" She asked, turning the chair sharply again to face Nanoka, her eyebrow raised.

"Uhm… Well… No, not really. I went through basic training, but I never really got the opportunity. They sent me straight here after Basic." She fidgeted a bit, her palms dressed to the sides of her brown skirt.

"Alright, I'll be frank with you, Nanoka. You're an FNG. The worst kind of FNG," The Master Sergeant poked her in the chest. "The kind that has never seen combat and likely doesn't know which way the barrel is supposed to point. So, Frakking New Girl, I want my questions answered."

"H-hai!" Nanoka replied quickly, snapping off a swift salute, her cheeks a bright pink with her embarrassment.

"Don't say that crap here. You're not on Airship Honshu anymore, down here we speak Gothic, and the only reason I understand what you're saying is because I went on vacation in Honshu." For a moment she seemed nostalgic, her eyes wandering off Nanoka to stare off into whatever place she felt happy in. "It's quite lovely, the Eastern Sector, the sunsets are beautiful." Suddenly, she snapped her eyes back onto Nanoka, staring intently at her for a moment before returning her eyes to the screen. "Anyway! Don't use your native language while you're with us unless you're speaking to someone else who is from the same Airship as you." She tapped her chin with her index finger, adding almost as if it were an after thought, "Especially don't say it to Marlene. You just got here and we'd hate to have to ship you out of here. In a casket." She turned her chair back toward the opposite monitor, her hands hovering over the keys. "Where did you attend Basic, and what was the name of your Personnel Officer?"

"Ha-, I mean, yes ma'am!" She made herself just a little more imposing, puffing out her chest, her knees locked. "I was trained at Fort Juniper. My Personnel Officer was… Master Sergeant… Richards I think was her name."

"And she assigned you to this Regiment specifically?"

"Yes ma'am, she told me that this was the best Regiment and that you would take excellent care of me," she replied, relaxing a bit now that the other woman's eyes were firmly glued to the screen.

Sighing sharply, the woman shook her head. "That wench Jennifer. Master Sergeant Jennifer frakking Richards, always the prankster... Listen up, FNG. I want you to report to that woman over there. Her name is Master Sergeant Alexandria Rosetta. She's the liaison to the Navy for us. My name is Master Sergeant Shari." She stood up from behind the desk. Stretching her arms with a yawn she moved slowly around the side of the desk, rubbing her left eye tiredly. "Let me let you in on a little secret. Alexandria is only the liaison because she's so much… uh… fun for the…" She paused, blinking several times. "Naaaavy… pilots! If you know what I'm saying," Shari grinned even though her tone really made it seem like she just pulled what she just said out of the thin air that likely inhabited her brain. Hooking her arm around Nanoka's neck, she pulled Nanoka in so she could whisper into her ear. "And the Navy pilots just love getting a pie-"

_Waack!_

_Thunk. _

Master Sergeant Alexandria Rosetta stood there, a thick hardcover book held in her hands like a club. Shari fell to the ground like a sack of dry potatoes, groaning and rubbing her head. "You are such a bitch, Shari! Talking to the new girl about me like that! You're lucky this book is the only thing I have on hand or I'd beat you to the Emperor's Throne and back!"

"Why don't you do it then you stupid little girl, you couldn't hurt a Batholisk if it was eating your Emperor-damned mother!" Shari snapped back, staggering to her feet, her fists balled up, ready for a fight. Alexandria didn't back down. Throwing to the side the book and her glasses she brought her own fists up. The pair circled each other like hungry sharks, Alexandria making the first move. With a grunt of exertion her left arm flew out, her fist coming in a hook from the left. Shari's arm came up immediately, blocking the blow, the sound of skin-on-skin coming sharply from where the two limbs met. Shari's retaliation was swift, shoving Alexandria's arm aside she came in with a right hook of her own, her fist slamming into Alexandria's cheek.

Nanoka backed away slowly, trying to not get involved in the swirling melee of the Regimental Master Sergeants and whatever improvised weapons they could get a hold of. Even then, she couldn't quite pull her eyes away from it. There was something strange about watching the two women fight. Clearly Nanoka wasn't paying any attention to where she was backing up, because after a few steps she walked right into something hard with a very loud voice that didn't sound at all too happy to be interrupted while giving orders by a girl who wasn't paying any attention. Nanoka turned slowly, afraid of what she'd find. After about twenty minutes aboard the 256th Striker's ship she wasn't quite sure if she felt relaxed at the general lack of military discipline or if she should be scared that two of the highest ranking NCOs just got in a fist fight.

What she saw, as a rather angry, but fairly good looking woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She wore the same uniform of: chocolate coat, white undershirt with russet tie, brown skirt with white knee-highs and dark pumps, which everyone else seemed to be wearing, in exclusion of the rather large open trench coat that she was wearing, the lapels wearing the pins of Vice Commander. On the left side of her coat was a blue patch, depicting a sword being struck by two separate lightning bolts. Her breast was covered in medals and ribbons of every type. Really, she looked like a celebration tree. A tall, angry celebration tree.

"Let me guess… you're the FNG."

"I have a name Emperor-damn it! My name is Nanoka Yoshioka, not FNG!" And that must've been when the light shined just perfectly, the pins on the tall woman's lapel gleaming menacingly. Nanoka looked dumbstruck; looking up, then down, then up again at this goddess of everything that had damn good place to be feared. "M-M-Marlene! Y-you're Vice Commander Marlene!? I-I had no idea; you're like… a legend! A hero! You're my idol!"

"You honestly have no idea just how stupid you look right now, Striker First Class Nanoka. No. Idea. Yes, I am Vice Commander Marlene, and because you're the FNG I'll accept this lapse of military discipline this once. I trust that you will notice my rank correctly next time and show the appropriate respect," She must've noticed something on Nanoka's face, or perhaps the fact that she was reaching for the pen at her breast-pocket and a piece of paper off the near by desk, because she held up her hand quickly. "No autographs. Besides, we'll be fighting alongside each other; an autograph is pretty damn pointless next to this here patch," She turned slightly to the side, giving Nanoka a better view of said patch. "That you'll be able to show off to all your friends and family back home," She looked over to the dueling pair, shaking her head, "I see you managed to get Shari and Alexandria going at it again. Congratulations, that's not all that difficult, but they're a bit more heated than the last three times this week."

"Vice Commander, shouldn't we stop them? One of them could get seriously injured!" Nanoka looked over her shoulder, grimacing at Alexandria rammed Shari's head into her wooden desk. "I mean… Emperor, that looks painful."

"If you want them to stop go ahead and tell them so yourself." Marlene grinned, folding her arms under her breasts while she reclined against the far wall, clearly enjoying the little show the two women were putting on.

"Fine then, I will!" She marched over to the fighting couple, wincing as a bone-crunching punch flew into Alexandria's face. "I-I think you two should stop be-"

They stopped mid punch, their fists inches from one another, looking at Nanoka with bruised and bloodied faces. "SHUT UP, FNG!" They shouted in unison, Alexandria capitalizing on the moment to slam her fist into Shari's jaw. Sighing with regret, Nanoka slumped, shuffling back over to Marlene.

"It's better just to let those two go at it. They'll wear each other out eventually. Follow me, Nanoka Yoshioka," She turned on her heels with precision that would make a drill instructor green with envy, moving swiftly and silently down the vast cargo-bays of the troopship. All around, armored women were practicing storming occupied buildings, firing laser-tag weapons at the occupying team. "So, Nanoka, how long have you been in the military service of the Imperium?" Marlene asked, not turning to look at Nanoka at all, just looking around at the training exercises.

"Uhm, about… two months actually."

Marlene stopped abruptly, wheeling around to face Nanoka. "That isn't long enough to even complete Medical or Tech School. Have you even seen combat?"

"Uh… Well… not exactly… no…" She replied sheepishly, looking down at an incredibly interesting speck of dried up gum that someone had left on the deck. She nudged at it gently with her shoe a few times, and found it glued rather well to the metal plates. Marlene's finger drifted under her chin, lifting her face to gaze into the piercing blue eyes.

"Then how did you get here, Nanoka? The Strikers don't accept anyone who doesn't have combat experience. The only way you could have gotten here was if by some divine intervention you happened to get stuck in the wrong unit." Marlene sighed heavily, running a hand through her crimson hair. "Well, it's too late to do anything about that now. Listen to me Nanoka. You're new, and you're going to be neck-deep in some serious trouble where we're going. I want you to promise me right now, that no matter what happens you will hold to the Tenants of Saint Victoria. Recite them for me, and promise you'll uphold them to me and I won't leave you onboard this ship when it comes time to deploy."

"Yes ma'am! I am a soldier, a sworn defender of humanity against all its foes. I am a Striker; I accept the difficulties of my mission. I will never leave a fallen comrade. I will uphold the honor of my regiment by serving in combat against any enemy. I will not flee from the face of my duty, and my sacrifice will go beyond by spirit. I commit my body and mind to the war effort. I am a Striker, and I swear on this oath." Nanoka sighed, the Tenants complete. She looked to Marlene, who nodded and turned again on her heel.

"I will hold you to that oath, Nanoka. I want you to go and seek out Yukari Shiro; she's your squad leader. There are more people from Honshu in that squad. It'll be easier for you to adjust and fit in. You know how this works so get to it."

--

"Nanoka Yoshioka, Striker First Class reporting for duty ma'am!" Her salute was swift and smart, snapping to attention in front of the Sergeant. She focused her brown eyes directly in front of her, keeping them on an imaginary spot, just as she had been trained to. Really, she was doing what she could to take in the appearance of her new leader.

Yukari wasn't bad looking, by all standards she was decent, not really plain and the scar across her cheek really only seemed to accent her sharp facial features. She blinked several times, working a small laser-sensor into her boot. Stopping for a brief moment, Yukari looked up at Nanoka, raising an eyebrow.

"At ease, Nanoka-Chan, we're suiting up for mock combat with Beta Company in an hour. In the mean time, while I work this Emperor-damned sensor into my boot I want you to explain to me our weapons and equipment." She brushed a lock of white hair from her face, adding it to mix of black hair with white highlights and crimson tips.

"Yes ma'am." She visibly relaxed, clasping her hands behind her back. "The Kivat-Pattern Lasrifle is the first weapon created to use a Cartridge System. The lasrifle fires a high caliber round with a specialized casing for the las-tip. The casing is ever so slightly magnetized, only to the point where the energy is stable enough to not explode, upon striking the target the casing bursts, causing the now unstable energy to explode within the target, increasing the damage done resulting in a massive exit wound and shrapnel in addition to the entry trauma. Basically the las-energy explodes the entire bullet. It fires like a normal round, but hits like a shotgun." She paused for a moment, trying to dredge up more information on the weapon. "The Kivat-pattern Lasrifle has its problems. The weapon is using temperamental technology and the weapon can jam, forcing the removal of the Cartridge, improper maintenance of the weapon could cause a misfire, potentially killing the soldier. Under the barrel of the weapon is the Mark III Fragmentation Grenade Launcher, firing a large fragmentation grenade up to one-hundred yards. The projectile explodes on contact with solid surfaces."

Yukari nodded, the senor slipping into place with an audible _pop. _She straightened up, rolling her shoulders around in her armor. "I want to know about the Mark VII Carapace armor. Tell me about it." She said her attention focused on punching numbers into a dataslate, flexing her hands to calibrate the armor properly.

"Yes ma'am, the Mark VII Carapace is a suit of full body armor that features extensive integrated systems, including life-support, strength and speed enhancements and a Lockdown system for use of the Kivat-pattern Lasrifle. The armor is reactive, and offers excellent protection while retaining mobility and speed."

"My, my, my, you're just an encyclopedia of information, Nanoka-Chan. All right, you know your equipment. Go talk to Gaia over there near the Armory door, she'll make sure your good to go, Ho?"

"Ho ma'am," Nanoka saluted Yukari who nodded with satisfaction and returned her salute before bending back over her equipment. Nanoka's steps were quick, excitement fueling her actions. Gaia lifted her head. She was completely armed and armored; the white skull-motif of her helmets faceplate stared at Nanoka with bright blue sockets before returning to the data-pad. Her armor was immaculate, and even though the inserted sensors were visible Gaia made them look as if they belonged. Impressed on the right shoulder of her armor were the dual lightning bolts striking a sword, the Striker's regimental emblem.

The dark grey Carapace was form-fitting, but only in the sense that it flowed with the curves of a toned female body, and little else. The plates of ceramite covered her upper torso, including the collar to protect the back and sides of the neck and secure the airlock. Her shoulders were protected by large plates of composite materials, layered down, making it look as if there were stairs leading to the raised collar. Each shoulder held a small gem-like power core that glow a faint blue color. Her muscled thighs were wrapped in tight fitting strips of armaplas molded to fit Gaia's leg. Her calves were shielded by armaplas combat boots whose armor carried up to the plated kneecaps of ceramite. Both boots were the same shadow grey as her armor was, but the knee-guards were modeled to that of a grinning skull. Her left armaplas boot was drawn on, depicting a large white arrow pointing down toward the toe, inside the arrow, written in black block letters were the words, 'Your ass here, punk'. Nanoka snickered at that, catching Gaia's attention.

"You must be the FNG. Welcome to Alpha Company, or as we call it, Death's Head. As Yukiari already told you, my name is Gaia. I'm the Engineer for our squad. Come with me, I'll get you your armor." She turned quickly, moving down the Armory hallways, the emotionless skull-motif scanning the racks.

"What is your height, FNG?" She turned her body, looking at her over her shoulder. The visible shoulder was also marked on, instead of the regimental emblem there was a crimson skull painted onto the shoulder pad. In the center of the forehead was the letter 'A', for Alpha Company. Her elbow-length black gauntlets carried an all too familiar weapon, the Kris. The two-foot long weapon was concealed within Gaia's gloves, but the weapon was there, Basic Training had taught her that much.

"My height is five feet seven inches, Striker Second Class Gaia."

"All right," She paused, reaching up to grab a massive box from the rank. "This is yours then. Put it on and we'll start the diagnostics. We'd better hurry; I hear we've leaving for a new front today. I want to make sure you're good to go before lift-off."

**Three Months Later…**

"You called, Captain?" Marlene said her hands at her hips. Around the holograph were the Sub-Commanders of the four combat Companies and three of the Sub-Commanders from the Support Companies. Laura was opposite Marlene, standing next to the ship's Captain and his Naval-Commissar. Otto Dietrich, the Commissar and Advisor of the Kivian 256th Strikers stood along-side the Naval-Commissar. In front of all of them, the planet of Otharis II loomed in the crystal-clear holoscreen. The planet was bathed in green, covered with what were either lush forests or thick rainforest. The Captain nodded to the servitor, who turned the holographic planet around slowly. In one small area the vast field of emerald was split for miles around by a massive city.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is Otharis II, the only habitable planet in the Otharis system. Recently we picked up a distress signal from the planet, an astropathic message spread throughout the fleet. The planet is about seven hours distance from here, as far as warp-travel goes. The fleet will continue on without us to the staging ground should we so choose to answer this call, but the decision is yours, Commander."

"What is the situation, Captain?" Laura replied, stroking her chin thoughtfully, staring down at the image of the city frozen before her.

"Apparently, rebellion broke out. One of the generals of the PDF took control of a good 75 of the planet's military forces and garrisoned a vast majority within the Capitol city, the one you see before you. On the opposite side of the planet a vast promethium mining operation is underway here, in the mountains. This is the second largest population center other than the Capitol, other than that everything else is simply scattered towns and villages across the forested surface."

"The Strikers are one of the best city-fighters this Imperium has to offer. The fleet requests that if anyone answers the call, it's you girls. We'll stay in orbit and send down your supplies and provide you with a Lightning detachment and a Vulture squadron for close-air support. But, the decision lies with you, Commander. This planet produces a moderate amount of promethium, and somehow I doubt that this particular mission will take any longer than a few weeks. We'd be late to the front, but the other regiments will have established some forward bases and captured you girls some airfields."

"Hmph," Laura smiled, placing her hands on the holo-projector. "You have a way with words, Captain Ricardo; you should have been a politician. We'll go down there, deal with this quickly and efficiently, and then we'll get the Warp out of there and head to the front where the real action is." She looked around her at the assembled uniformed women, their faces all locked to the holo-screen. "Sound good, Sub-Commanders?"

In unison they thrust their fists into the air, the room echoing with their cry, "Ho!"

"Breaching, Breaching!" Yukari cried over her squad's tactical communications network, the sudden implosion of the door following her words. Instantly both she and another Striker rushed into the room, their weapons blazing, buzzing filling the air as two of Beta Companies girls dropped.

"Alpha Company scores two points! The score is now 2-0 with the Death's Head in the lead!" the scorekeeper yelled. In her seat Alexandria gave a quick bounce, cheering on her Alpha Company, The Death's Head. Shari was quite the opposite. She stood, screaming at Beta Company, the Headhunters. "Come on Beta Company; pick up the slack! You're DEFENDING! Do your damn job!"

Two of the heavily armored Alpha Company women covered the stairs while another armed with a missile launcher filled the gap. Lowering her heavy weapon she slid a rocket with a blue band around the warhead noting it as a fragmentation missile.  
There was a quick high-pitched scream; the rocket firing out of the large weapon faster than the eye could catch to slam against the wall above the stairs. The wall broke down, detonating within. From the room several sharp buzz noises filled the air again, the intercom sounded again, echoing through the training area.

"Alpha Company scores four more points! It is now 5-0, with the Death's Head taking a commanding lead over the Headhunters!"

"Nanoka, cover the stairs, we've moving up. Follow on my order." Yukari's voice sounded over the comm.-link, the heavy-duty combat boots of the Kivians making hardly a sound on the steps. Nanoka followed, her back pressed lightly against Gaia's, her Lasrifle pointed down the stairs as she slowly advanced backwards.

"Come on Headhunters, let's get these girls. Tessa, flashbang out the door in five, four, three, and two…" From in front of Yukari a small cyclical object rolled out of one of the doors, and less than a second later there was a deafening sound and a blinding flash of light, followed by the barely audible buzz of downed Strikers. In the first salvo Yukari and two other Strikers went down, the remainder of the squad returning fire, scoring a hit on one of the disengaging Headhunters.

Nanoka turned her head at the second the pop was heard, and that's when Beta Company's squad leader, Veronica Harlown, struck. She and two of her squad-mates came out from behind a collapsible wall at the base of the stairs. Nanoka's turning was head locked in place as one well placed burst from Veronica stitched up the line, striking Gaia in the back and another girl in the shoulder. The remaining four Death's Head consolidated quickly, moving into the room where the missile had broken down the wall and taking their positions behind the bodies of the fallen Beta squad members. They aimed down their sights waiting for the remaining four members of the opposing force to attack.

Clink, clink, clink, clink…

The fragmentation grenade rolled into the room, "GRENADE!" One of the Alpha girls shouted the warning to her squad-mates over the comm. before driving on the fake ordinance, her buzzer going off almost immediately. Beta charged then, their weapons blazing on full auto as they used the fallen Alpha members as shields, the servos in their arms straining with the weight. Two of Beta Company's Strikers went down to well placed shots but the favor was quickly returned, Alpha squad's support gunner going down along with the sharpshooter. With a grunt of exertion Veronica tossed the body of Nanoka onto the remaining Alpha Striker, the woman crashing heavily against the wall, Nanoka's limp body slipping from the other woman's. Veronica capitalized on the moment, her finger tightening on the trigger, the last of Alpha Company's buzzers going off.

"Beta Company wins by two points, with a total score of ten kill points and five objective points for successfully defending the building's foundation. Alpha Company failed to eliminate all targets and destroy the building, they earned eight kill points, but have five points subtracted for not completing objectives." Suddenly, the locks placed on the armor of the tagged Strikers were released, the women able to move again. Sighing deeply, Nanoka pulled her helm off her head, shaking her head, strand of onyx hair sticking to her sweat covered forehead.

"Nanoka-Chan… you baka!" Yukari grabbed Nanoka by the neckline of her armor, giving her a good shake. "I told you to cover the fucking stairs! Why didn't you do what I ordered you to!? Because of you, we're not going to be moving onto the tournament!"

"It doesn't matter, there won't be a tournament." Marlene's voice echoed through the training room, instantly all of the women snapped to attention, Veronica and Yukari shouting in unison, "Attention, Officer on deck!"

"At ease ladies, I have good news and bad news. Bad news is, we're going to be taking a detour, and we'll be late for the newest push against the Tau. Good news is we're going to be dropping in on a little rebellion going on a planet named Otharis II in a week's time. We're going to crash their party and fuck their shit up. This means no tournaments for this week. I want you Sergeants to drill your girls, make sure they're good to go before we drop." Marlene straightened into attention, her right hand touching her eyebrow before cutting her salute. Pivoting on her heel and the balls of her toes she walked off, a small girl in a white and red dress trailing behind her.

"Who is the little girl?" Nanoka asked, looking over to Veronica.

"Alissi, Marlene's kid, they're not family, but the Vice Commander dotes after the little thing. I hear that Alissi owes her life to Marlene. She found her in the attack on Skybreak some eighty years ago, took the dying girl and brought her to the augmenters' facility, shelled out nearly all the money she had to see that girl outfitted with the best bionic body they had. That case that she carries has a modified Lascannon in it; the damn thing belongs on one of the Sentinels. It's almost twice her size and weight, yet she carries it as if it were a really big flower. We call her 'Lascannonette', but I wouldn't suggest it without getting to know her first." Victoria looked over her shoulder, her helmet in the crook of her arm. Her youthful face was scarred badly on the left side, but the right was perfectly clear. Bright cornflower blue eyes peered out from under silver-tinted bangs, the remainder of her long blonde hair pulled up in a simple ponytail. "You must be the FNG, eh… Nanoha is it?"

"Nanoka, we're going to the firing range in twenty." Gaia whispered into her ear, giving her shoulder a hard pat before moving off towards Alexandria who looked all too pleased to see her.

"Ah, Nanoka," Veronica repeated, placing an emphasis on the 'Ka' where her mistake had been made. "My apologies, my Japanese is a bit off. It's been awhile since Advanced School. I'm Sergeant Major Veronica Harlown, Beta Company's Fast Response leader. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Nanoka." Veronica politely inclined her head at Nanoka. "I take it you're from Honshu Airship; it is the only Japanese Airship on Kivat, unless you're one of the Remainders."

"Remainders? You mean the people who were left in the cities after the First Contact?" Nanoka asked, leaning against one of the ammo-crates in the training-hall-turned-cargo-bay.

"Yeah, Kivian history phases them out for the most part. We'd rather not be reminded of our failure to save everyone. That's war for you. Someone has to die, and I'd rather that person not be me. I was a Remainder, Nanoka, one of the denizens of Starspear City. When the Batholisks came, they killed everyone. Eviscerated them, then ate them, then moved on. Our military pulled out of the location after the first three days. High Command declared Starspear a lost cause, verlorene sache." Veronica turned and spat at the ground, the mangled left-side of her face lit by the bright lights of the cargo bay. "I got this scar from a Batholisk that got too close to me as a girl. I choose to keep it, even though the medical staff could easily fix it up. It's a sign of my heritage… that I haven't forgotten the Remainders on Starspear.

Nanoka looked away, suddenly ashamed for living such a sheltered and pleasant childhood, as much as a Kivian girl could wish for. She sighed, flipping open the control panel on her wrist, checking the time. "That time already huh? I've got to go; I'll talk to you later Veronica-San." She turned her back on Veronica, managing to take only one step before she felt the armored hand close around her wrist, stopping her. Nanoka turned, looking over her shoulder at Veronica.

"Nanoka, no matter what Yukari says, you did well today," She gave Nanoka's wrist a squeeze that she barely felt through her armor before releasing her. Nanoka nodded, her hand falling back to her side before she turned and walked off to the firing range.

Yukari turned slightly, making only a quick glance to Nanoka before marking her name off on the datapad. "All right, Nanoka, you're up first. For every shot you miss I deduct a point, for every shot you hit I add a point. Let's see who the better markswoman is."

Nanoka knelt down, placing the butt of the lasrifle to her shoulder, the three-foot rifle resting in her arms. Closing her eye she aimed carefully down the sight, speaking into her helmet, "Activate Lock System, assault rifle mode." Instantly, she could feel the armor stiffen, the area around the butt molding to the weapon. She squeezed the trigger, the high caliber round spitting from her weapon in long controlled bursts, each one causing her body to rock a small amount. The thunderous noise from the weapon echoed through the range, mixing with the sounds of similar weapons firing. The noise of the weapon drowned out the tingle of cascading bullet-casings hitting the ground beside her.

One-hundred-and-fifty yards down range the target exploded in a shower of wooden shrapnel and debris flying around the obliterated target. Inside of Nanoka's helmet her ammunition counter read zero remaining bullets out of twenty-five. Nodding to herself, Nanoka stood, lowering the massive rifle from her shoulder, the barrel very nearly reaching the ground.

"Not bad, Nanoka-Chan. Don't forget about your lasrifle bipod when you're lining up precision shots. You fired all twenty-five rounds at the target and hit the target twenty one times. Your score is seventeen, above average, and not bad for a FNG. Gaia, you're up next."

General Lawrence R. Huvard didn't like what he saw. General Lawrence R. Huvard was a man of tradition. The tradition that the men fought and led and the women stayed home with the children. What he now saw was something that countered everything he believed. Approaching the General and his command staff was a group of women, seven in total, all wearing dress attire. Their brown coats, white undershirts with brown ties, brown skirts with white knee-highs and brown pumps drove him nuts. Even more so was the fact that of all the women approaching him, one of them was so heavily decorated he could have put her in his living room and placed presents around her for Emperor's Day.

"General Huvard I take it?" Spoke the woman in the lead, her air of authority was absolute; the gleam of intelligence in her eyes bespoke the Macharian Cross that adorned her left breast along with several rows of ribbons. Behind this woman, the other six lined up. In the background heavy loaders began to move out the boxes of magazines, bionic replacements, and deactivated Sentinel walkers. From behind the loaders came the Strikers. Their armor made them seem like ghastly shadows passing over the landscape, their step was unfaltering, the entire regiment moving as one single grisly automaton. They came to a stop behind their sub-commanders, headed by the Master Sergeant.

"That's right. I wasn't aware that when they were sending us help they were going to be sending us housewives. They should be at home, tending to the family and the house. Fighting isn't a woman's place." General Huvard didn't look pleased, as a matter of fact, he actually grimaced. "Go home; even outnumbered we could do a better job than you. They have nearly four-thousand troops and yet the Imperium sends us only a fraction of that number. Women no less! And they expect us to win! Ha!"

"I suggest that you watch your tone when you speak to me that way, General." Laura's eyes grew cold, her hands clasped behind her back. "We will be using this area as our staging ground for now."

"I don't follow your orders, woman. On this planet you have no author-" He was cut short by a punishing blow to his jaw. The crack resounded through the minds of the General's escorts, who gripped their weapons. Rubbing his jaw the General looked up from the ground, Laura staring down at him from on centimeters away. She bent down, gripping the older male by his collar, lifting him back up to her height by his collar.

"You will follow my orders. We are here to assist you in this endeavor, and every second we waste fighting is one second later we are to our original destination on Sotha so get up. We have work to do and I intend to get it done."

General Lawrence grimaced, favoring his wounded jaw. He looked at Laura with hatred in his eyes, but he turned and gave the orders to his subordinates. "All right, Colo-."

"It's Commander," She interrupted. "And I'm glad you see things my way. Now let's get down to the tactical discussion…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

**First Blood**

Laura's face was lit up by the holo-screen, the projected layout of the capitol city taken from a bird's eye view available for all to see. On the screen, three particular buildings had been highlighted. The Engineer rotated the screen a bit to the left before focusing in on a very large satellite complex. "This, I assume, is the orbital relay?" Marlene asked, leaning in close to the projection.

"Yes, and it is one of the key objectives to taking the city. With the orbital relay we can intercept the transmissions between the traitor squads and find out their coordinates." General Lawrence reclined in his plush chair, running a hand through his graying hair. "Next on the list." The projection of the orbital relay faded back into the city, the next highlighted object enlarging itself onto the holo-screen. "Is the Governor's palace, where the traitor General Rauven is holed up. To restore the Governor's Office in a timely manner we need to extract the Governor's family, especially his wife, who will take the late governor's place." The palace rotated several times, the Sub-commanders downloading the building data onto their datapads.

"What is the building's structure mostly made of?" Sub-Commander Calia asked, lowering her hand.

"The average building is about a half-inch of rockcrete, followed by whatever is inside the building. Why do you ask?" It was clear that the General's interest was piqued, as he leaned forward, placing his chin on his knuckles.

"Our guns can penetrate up to an inch of rockcrete and still give the target on the opposite side a fatal wound. I wanted to make sure that we would be at optimum effectiveness with our standard rounds."

"What the hell sort of guns do you people use?"

Calia answered automatically, her voice that of a scolding schoolteacher to a lazy student. "The Kivat-Pattern L-14 caliber 50. three-setting lasrifle. It is an experimental weapon, using a las-filled tip with magnetic casing to cause an explosive wound much akin to being shot in close range with a sawed-off shotgun, or swallowing a fragmentation grenade. The weapon is pin-point accurate at up to three-hundred meters on single or burst, six-hundred hundred meters features a minimal spread of the burst, single-shot remains pin-point accurate at up to eight-hundred meters."

"By the Emperor," One of the PDF junior officers spoke from the corner of the room, his eyes wide. "Those must weigh a ton."

"Approximately forty-nine pounds in assault configuration," Vitaria said calmly, standing to her full height. "Let us continue with the briefing, please." She motioned to the General, who in turn cleared his throat, continuing on with the final critical objective.

"This is the munitions dump. There is a large stockpile of ammunition, food, water, and fuel at this location. Capturing this will require the cleansing of the entire industrial sector, which will cut off the rebel supplies and leave them starving for war essentials."

"Then it seems like our plan of attack is already set. General, where will you be deploying your forces?" Laura stood, leaning over the desk to peer at him.

"My men will move straight up the center of the city, following this main boulevard," He pointed on the holo-graphic bird's eye display to the intended area. "To the Orbital Relay. If you don't mind, Commander, I want to suggest that your forces take the Munitions dump and the Governor's Palace."

"That will suffice." Laura left quickly, her subordinates following close behind. Again the G eneral reclined in his chair, noticing the odd looks from his junior officers, and the knowing looks and nods of approval from the more senior ones. It seemed as if no words were needed to convey their thoughts.

Outside of the meeting room, heated discussion raged between the Kivian command staff. "You realize they're sending us into a kill zone," Vitaria said, the slightest tinge of anger hidden in her voice. "The factory complex is ten miles wide with habs, shelled out factory ruins and rubble strewn across the streets. More importantly, they'll be expecting our arrival and likely have turrets and fortified bunkers in place by now."

"I know, Sub-Commander Vitaria, but we're the best for the job. I honestly came here expecting no support at all from the PDF here and that we would have to take the city from determined defenders on terrain we didn't know well. However, we're fighting in a city against a poorly trained and equipped enemy. We know this terrain; we've built ourselves around fighting in the terrain of ruined cities. This isn't a difficult assignment, hell we're only outnumbered nearly thirteen-to-one, but those are good odds for any Kivian soldier, ho?"

"Ho, ma'am," Vitaria replied.

"Now for the hard part..." Laura stroked her chin in thought, her elbow resting on a single arm folded under her breasts. "Marlene, your group is on Snatch-and-Grab duty. Get into the Governor's Palace, eliminate all threats and get out via extraction on the rooftop by Valkyrie. I'm assigning you the Delta Veteran squads. Vita, your company is going to be support for Alpha Company. Sub-Commander Victoria, you and your Company will drop in via drop pod and secure the palace perimeter after Marlene and her forces are inside of the building. The code-word for your drop is S-a-G."

"Roger that, Commander,"

"Calia, I'm giving you the tough job. Your company is going to be on factory duty. I am hereby declaring your mission Search and Destroy. You are to engage and eliminate all Op-For, any munitions caches in exclusion of the munitions dump are to be destroyed. Keep your eyes peeled for enemy intelligence. You will have Vita's support on this. If you run into stiff pockets of resistance do not hesitate to call in for air-support or reinforcements. We're trying to conserve girls here, so use extreme caution when engaging the enemy."

"Ho, ma'am, you can count on the Death's Head to capture the factory complex."

"As for you, Sub-Commander Rachel, I want you to support the Palace operation. Delta Company is on stand-by, as are you, Lieutenant Johanns. I want your Vulture flight ready to fly on a moments notice.

"Of course, Commander, it would be my pleasure to serve alongside the Strikers." He replied, lighting his lho-stick.

Sunlight greeted the command staff as they entered the clearing, the vast staging grounds for the Kivian military. After only four hours the mobile bases had been set up, and the munitions supply depots had been constructed. Near the Heavy Lander a bustling group of soldiers were busy setting up the communications network under the harsh orders of Master Sergeant Shari, whose voice could be heard from a great deal away, probably scaring baby chicks out of their happy forest bird nests. Upon hearing the Command Staff's approach Shari turned on her heel, completing an about-face and following it up with a salute to Laura. "At ease, Master Sergeant. What do you have planned here?"

"Communications and video-uplink arrays," She replied, lowering her hand back to her side. "With any luck we can have them working before nightfall."

"Good, we'll need them, as we're moving out tonight. Sub-Commanders, get your girls assembled and ready to go. We leave at dusk."

"Roger," The Sub-Commanders peeled off like bark from a tree, each going in a separate direction to where their units were sitting maintaining weapons, or calibrating equipment.

Nanoka sensitively approached Gaia, whose head was bent over her wrist, punching numbers and letters into the datapad there. Her helmet was off, sitting on a crate of medical supplies and bionic equipment. Her long electric blue hair brushed against her shoulders, the power-core situated between her shoulder blades covered over by an extra trauma plate. "What do you want, Nanoka? I'm busy, as you can see."

"Nothing much, Gaia, I just want to get to know you. We've been together for three months and I've realized that I don't really know any of you that well. I just th-"

"Shut up, Nanoka," She sighed, placing her hand over her face. "You don't know anything. Not yet. You're always going to be an FNG to us. You're not worthy of us telling you our histories, or our pasts." She wheeled to face her, her harsh green eyes staring into Nanoka's. "Do you know why that is, New Girl? Do you know why we don't tell you?"

"Is it because I've never seen combat before?" Nanoka replied angrily, clenching her fists. "Just because I haven't faced down a Batholisk doesn't make me any less of a person Emperor damn it!"

Gaia gripped Nanoka by the neck of her armor, giving her a good shake before her palm collided harshly with the side of Nanoka's face. "It isn't that, you idiot child. It's the fact that you're a liability here, that you're new to _us._ We couldn't care less about your combat experience, yeah, it helps when the shit hits the fan, but it isn't anywhere near as crucial as the fact that you're not experienced with the rest of the squad, that you don't know how we work. You'll get yourself killed out here, Nanoka, and there's no point in getting close to a dead woman." Gaia shoved Nanoka away, grabbing her helmet and walking off. Nanoka's eyes watered, either with emotional hurt or with physical pain, she couldn't be sure which. Gingerly, she touched her stinging cheek, feeling the bite of Gaia's hand all over again and the venom of her words.

"My dear, it looks like you met Gaia already." Jenell, the squad support gunner, leaned over the desk, looking up at Nanoka. "Don't worry about it, she's always sour," She stood up, circling around the desk before lifting herself up and sitting on it, the metal table groaning with the weight of four-hundred-twenty pounds of female flesh, ceramite, armaplas and Cartridge rifle.

"Why though?" Nanoka asked, turning to face her squad-mate. "It doesn't make any sense why she would treat me that way just because I'm new."

Jenell sighed heavily, closing her eyes for a brief moment before focusing their hazel attention on Nanoka. "On the contrary, it gives her every right, Emperor knows, I'm with her. Nanoka, the woman you're replacing was with us since Skybreak, eighty years ago. You got stuck in one of the oldest squads in the entire regiment. Her name was Mathilda; she was killed in our last mission…" Jenell paused for a moment, mastering the control of her hoarse voice. "A lot of good girls were. We mostly pulled troops from reserves back home, but you're truly the only new girl here. New to everything, even how a team works and functions, to what happens when a member that you've known, and fought, and bled, and ate, and slept alongside dies senselessly because some idiot Cadian officer disliked her." She took a breath, lifting her face to the sky, shaking the tears from her eyes.

"I understand Gaia's pain, we all do. And we all have different ways of dealing with Mathilda's loss. Gaia is still trying to get over her pain. There's no such thing as a war-goddess. No human can take on an army and see a good person that you knew die. That's shit that you see on the pict-screens at home, all that is lies and propaganda bull. Every human has a breaking point, everyone has their limits. When you kill your first person, Nanoka, and lose your first friend… you'll understand."

Jenell patted Nanoka's shoulder gently, smiling kindly at her. "Calia is calling up the Company now, come on. I'll walk with you to the meeting area."

"Thanks… Jenell."

"No problem, Nanoka. You look like shit right now anyway; I'm just doing what I can to help." Jenell shifted the gear attached to her back a bit, trying to ease up the weight on one shoulder.

""Where do you come from, Jenell?" Nanoka asked, her eyes briefly following a pair of PDF soldiers carrying a large ammunition crate. They set it down, staring at each other for a long moment before one nodded, moving off a different way.

"Me? I'm a native of Berlin City. Incredibly lovely place, especially at sunrise, when the rays pass over the dew-laden flowers just right. Ugh, Emperor, nostalgia. I can't wait to get back home, I have family waiting for me there, can't wait for the next vacation!" She laughed heartily, slapping Nanoka on the back.

The pair walked into the area designated to Alpha Company, moving to stand in formation with the rest of their squad. "Company," Alexandria's barked, "atten-shun!" With practiced precision the hundred-fifty women of Alpha Company clicked their heels together, their hands at their sides, thumbs inward. "Alpha Company, par-ade rest!" One noise drifted from the heavy combat boots of the Death Head, their legs spread shoulder-width, hands clasped together, pressed to the small of their backs.

Turning on her heel and the balls of her toes Alexandria wheeled about, snapping to attention before firing off a quick salute to Calia. "Company," the Sub-Commander spoke, her golden eyes scanning over the crowd, some of the women helmeted, others not. Some fidgeted with nervousness while others were calm and relaxed. Inwardly, Calia smiled to herself, nodding briefly. "Alpha Company has been given the most difficult task of all the Companies in the 256th. We are going to move into the Factory complex that is the rib-cage of the Capitol's heart and tear it open for the PDF forces. At the same time, our primary objective is the munitions dump. I have sent the appropriate datafiles to your Armor Interface Network and Tac-Net. Our Rules of Engagement are as follows. No shooting of civilians, we are not trying to be the heretics, we are trying to kill them. Keep civilian casualties to a minimum ladies, I'm serious about this. Prisoners are a possibility, but only if the PDF is nearby to pick them up. If you cannot secure a captured enemy kill them. No need to burden yourselves with excess baggage." She paused, looking around the assembled company, their grey urban camouflage making the women stand out in lush forest background.

"Tactical Air-Support is green for this mission, as is calling on Veronica's Fast Response Sentinel teams. Good luck ladies, you move out in an hour. Get some shut eye or some chow and meet here in sixty." Calia allowed her lips to curl into a proud smile, her joy at not only the prospect of combat but the bragging rights that would go along with it getting the best of her stern demeanor. "Alpha Company, Dismissed!"

As one the entire Company took a step back, "Dismissed, ho!" they cried, pivoting on their heels and taking one final step, their backs to the Company commander before breaking off, separate people going to do separate things.

"How many of them do you expect to come back, Master Sergeant?"

"All of them ma'am. The Strikers don't know how to fail. We don't know how to die." She turned, saluting her commander before taking her leave as well.

"I hope you're right, Alexandria. I truly hope you're right." Calia murmured, taking her leave.

An hour later the women assembled again, excitement and anxiety ran like an electric current through the women, the setting sun casting a reddish-brown glow over the Regiment until it too disappeared over the horizon, leaving darkness in its wake. In the fading light, Vice-Commander Marlene appeared in front of the assembled women, her shadowy armor blending in with the dusk. "Deployment for Operation: Otharis Freedom is a go. Stay safe, all of you. Come back to me alive, I don't want to be the person that goes home to your mother and fathers to tell them their daughter was killed on some backwater planet for a few gallons of promethium. You have your objectives; you have the weapons and equipment you need to succeed. You have the experience, the skill, and the training that most Regiments lack. Let's complete this mission and get underway to the real fight in the Damocles sector, ho?"

"Ho!" The regiment as one cried.

"We'll be going in the first drop. That's good; it means more traitors to kill. Everyone, look at your Tactical Data Network. Our objective is the hab-blocks. We're going to drop to the southern gate and secure hab-blocks 1-8 on the way up to the munitions factory; where we will rendezvous with Fourth and Fifth squad. This is a Yellow level mission, keep your fire off of civilians, and just don't touch them. If it doesn't have a gun its not worth burning ammo on. Together we will move to support Second and Third squad, who will be assaulting the munitions dump. After we have secured the munitions dump Sub-Commander Calia will give us further orders. Ho?"

"Ho, ma'am!"

"Sergeant Yukari, we're coming up on the drop point now. Green light to go. Good luck, Strikers, see you back at base." The pilot's voice echoed through their comm.-links, clearly heard. The helmets blocked out the sounds of the Valkyrie's engines. All ten women in the squad turned their eyes to the blinking light over the jump doorway, waiting for the moment it turned green. Apprehension coiled in Nanoka's chest, mixing with the gut-wrenching fear of her first combat drop.

Her first real fight.

The light over the door suddenly blinked green, Yukari standing near the doorway, looking out over the fire-lit city. Taking a step back she leapt from the Valkyrie, rifle in her arms, followed by the remaining nine members of First squad. They sailed through the air, the reader on Nanoka's HUD counting down the seconds until the grav-chute needed to be deployed. The numbers began to blink faster and faster until there was a sharp beeping noise, the grav-chute auto-deploying Nanoka's eyes aimed down the reflex scope of her weapon. She swept it in a 180° angle.

Her boots met the ground with a harsh thud, jarring her. Her Carapace armor automatically popped off the grav-chute and internal pressurization lock, Nanoka running to consolidate on Yukari. Keeping low, the squad advanced, Talia, the squad Sharpshooter, hung in the back of the advancing group, her eye trained down her sight as she scoped out the towering hab-buildings to either side of the narrow street.

"Squad, stack up." Yukari barked, her armored body pressed hard against the wall adjacent to the doorway. Behind her the other nine women lined up, each one touching the shoulder of the woman in front of her. Yukari knelt down, slamming a breaching charge on the door. Stepping back to her position she waited for a few seconds. Nanoka's breath caught in her throat, her first firefight only seconds away. She swallowed hard, her knees trembled a bit but her hands stayed steady and firm on her weapon. Suddenly the door burst inwards with powerful force, crashing into the room followed quickly by Gaia and Yukari. Their guns blazed, spitting fire and death. In the smoke of the breaching charge the immediate carnage and effectiveness of the Kivat-pattern lasrifle wasn't seen, but the thunderous sound of the rifle firing and the steady cling of spent shells impacting the ground was heard. Only after the smoke from the blast had cleared did the devastation of the weapon become apparent. Holes the size of Nanoka's head were blown into walls ringed by blood and mangled organs. What little remained of the bodies lay torn, ruby liquid pulsing from the numerous wounds. She saw one with no torso, another whose body had been blown apart piecemeal by the powerful Kivian weapons. One thing remained of him though, on his left breast was a mangled patch, signifying him as part of the PDF.

Nanoka felt a surge from her stomach, instantly regretting having eaten before deployment. Pressing the tab at her neck to lift the faceplate she vomited onto the ground, the other squad members moving on ahead of her to clear another room. Thunder boomed within the building, shouts of alarm coming from the other rooms in the hab. Gritting her teeth Nanoka pushed her faceplate back down, the hiss of the helmet-lock and the quiet beep of the AIN coming back online. She looked around, her, gripping her lasrifle just a little tighter before joining up with Yukari.

"Glad to see you're still in the fight, FNG. You're part of Beta Fireteam, meet back here in twenty minutes. The data has been uploaded to your AIN. Keep open communications, Sit-reps need to be turned into me every two minutes. Ho?"

"Ho, ma'am!" They returned, the two groups splitting off to separate wings of the building. Nanoka trailed behind Jenell, keeping her finger taut, ready to pull the trigger. Fear gripped her body, and she looked with envy on the hidden faces of her squad-mates who seemed to feel no fear, who pulled the trigger so easily to take a life. Again she asked herself in her mind if she was capable of killing when the time came for her to do or die. Talia, the squad's sharpshooter kicked in the next door, Jenell taking Talia's place right as she stepped to the side. Nanoka followed her inside of the room, checking the left whereas Jenell checked the right. "Clear," Jenell said, her words filtering to the rest of the squad through the vox.

Cautiously, Nanoka approached the doorway she was facing. She crouched low, moving steadily towards the entrance, her body taut with fear. Her hands thankfully didn't tremble courtesy of her armored gauntlets. Her hand closed on the doorknob, turning it quickly. With a hard push the door flew open, smashing the man hiding behind it in the face. She whipped around, aiming down her sight at him. Thoughts raced through her mind, everything seeming to be in slow motion. He raised his lasgun to shoot her, the screams of Jenell and Talia echoing in her ears. In his face she could glimpse the fear; in his eyes he could see the skull-motif of her helmet, sinister, cold, and emotionless. In that moment, when she saw in his eyes the same wild desire of 'Kill or be killed' did she realize the purpose of her equipment, her training, of all the drills and harsh words. She didn't need to close her eyes to take that life. She only needed to pull the trigger.

Her weapon's recoil was non-existent, the high caliber round tearing into the man's chest. The bullet completely ignored his armor, the explosive power of the unstable energy stored in the tip combined with the speed and power of the high caliber round shattered his standard issue flak armor, the warhead detonating with explosive force. His corpse staggered backwards, a jagged hole nearly six inches large blown clear through his torso and the wall behind it, the body held together only by a now stretched mix of torn muscle tissue and skin. His eyes went blank, his body falling to the ground dead.

Nanoka whipped around, hearing voices out of the doors to both her left and right. Jenell stood behind Nanoka, her weapon aimed at the opposite door right as it opened, pushing Nanoka's head down. She pulled the trigger, cutting down the four who tried to enter their room, their blood and viscera coating the walls. Nanoka dispatched the three who came through the door she was facing, the men cut down in a hail of destructive firepower that left the walls behind them filled with holes. "Not a bad job, Nanoka. Not bad at all. I say we go left, the right is a dead-end.

"You're the Striker Second-class, Jenell. Talia and I will follow you." Nanoka responded, ejecting the empty magazine to replace it with a new one. She kept her eye drilled down her scope on the doorway, covering Jenell's swift approach. She poked her head around the corner, finding it clear she beckoned for the remaining two women to follow her into a new room.

_Elsewhere..._

Marlene stood on the edge of the palace roof, giving the rope she'd attached to a heating vent a hard to tug make sure the rope was secure before pushing off the side of the building, crashing hard through a fragile glass window. The inhabitants of the upper-deck looked as surprised as a mouse caught in a trap. She didn't hesitate, bringing her pistol up she pulled the trigger emotionlessly; her bionic body responding to her mind's orders faster than a human body could possibly do. The Guardsmen that inhabited the room collapsed to the floor with smoking craters blown into foreheads, leaving a fresh coat of crimson and grey paint on the walls. "Elizabeth, Hilda, I'll leave the rescue of the Governor's family to you. Take no prisoners." She cut the transmission as suddenly as she had started it.

She could hear voices outside of the doors and briefly she checked the side of her weapon, still showing green for ammunition. With a bored sigh she approached the door. "Hello, I'm here for a General Rauven. Open please."

"H-he's not here! Why are you doing this!? We're on the same side! You should be killing those monsters we pushed out of the city!" A Guardsman on the other side of the door shouted. Marlene didn't make a sound, letting her actions do the talking. Her foot collided with the door, the wooden object falling into the room. Her expression was blank as she leveled the pistol down at the room's inhabitants.

"That isn't how you speak to an officer. You should be taught a lesson in Discipline." She leveled her massive pistol down at the nearest Guardsman, his eyes wide before the head exploded in a shower of skull fragments and brain matter. The soldiers screamed, unleashing a blistering hail of fire on Marlene, the ineffective las-fire scoring her armor or deflected by her Reflector shield when it came too close to her head.

"You picked to wrong side to fight on." She said, her voice booming over the popping of the Guardsmen's lasguns as slowly, one by one the soldiers were picked off, the desks and chairs they hid behind doing nothing but hiding their body's explosions as her las-tipped rounds detonated from within them until only one remained.

"W-what the hell are you!?" He shouted firing point-blank at her head, Marlene's steps unfaltering as the las-bolts glanced harmlessly off her refractor shield until the power-pack was empty, nothing more than the sound of _click, click, click, _coming from the lasgun now. He tossed the gun at Marlene, who caught it easily enough, crushing it in her bionic hand. He scrambled away from her, pressed up against the wall, crying. "E-Emperor! Save me from this daemon!" He prayed, his hands clutching at the aquilla around his neck.

"Tell me where the General is and I'll spare you. Don't tell me, and I'll take my time forcefully removing your limbs." She knelt down, pressing her weapon to his leg. "Your choice."

"He's in the next room! I promise, please, don't kill me! I have a wife and three children! I only do this job to provide for them!" He was whimpering in fear, his body trembling.

"I honor my word, soldier. However," Marlene stood up, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "Shoot me in the back as I leave and I'll kill you." Turning she left the same way she'd come in, not even caring to step over the corpses of the Guardsman's dead comrades. Her boots crunched down on skulls and bones, smashing them as if they were glass. She leaned her head to the side slightly, touching the comm.-link in her ear. "Shari, situation report."

"All units are green, Vice-Commander. Alpha company ran into an issue near the Dachau… uh… clothing plant, but Sub-Commander Vitaria is dealing with it now. Elizabeth and Hilda report that they have the packages and are heading now to the rooftop for extraction."

"Very good. Marlene out." She cut the transmission, standing in front of the door the Guardsman had specified. She turned the knob, entering the room slowly, her pistol raised. In the light, the foot- long weapon gleamed, it's ornate golden plating reflecting Marlene's cold and emotionless visage, her crimson hair streaked with midnight blue, or her pretty face offset by the impossibly blue eyes turned to ice by the refracted light.

Even for Marlene, who had faced horrors that remained unspeakable to any who had not seen them as well, the sight tore the breath from her lungs. General Rauven wasn't a man so much as he was a hideous beast, a monster. In several places his skin had split, revealing blood-red carapace. Where any normal human would have two arms he had six, two the plated arms ending in wicked sharp claws. His face was grotesque, the split flesh stretched as his face had extended to fit the wider jaw and rows of sharpened teeth. The back of his head elongated, his brow ridge more pronounced, sheltering the narrow bestial eyes. He wasn't alone either. In the room with him was a group of five Genestealers. They hung back, seeming to wait, the former General's maw opening, venom dripping from the corners of his mouth, sizzling on the ground.

"You see now," He rasped, his chuckle hoarse. "That you fell into the trap. Now you and your army is nothing more than biomass for the Hive Mind. But you... you are different, you are not living. You are cold, deathless, machine. You are not human."

"I am a human," She said coolly, her piercing blue eyes aiming down the barrel at him. "You are not, monster!" Marlene spat. She pulled the trigger, her high-caliber rounds slamming into his body, breaking off chucks of carapace. He responded with a shrill scream of pain, the Genestealers reacting at the sound, springing at Marlene with inhuman speed. She wasn't slow either, her body reacted as fast as her mind, throwing herself out the door and kicking it shut right as the nearest Genestealer was nearing the exit, the Tyranid's monstrous head bursting through the wood. She raised her firearm, pulling the trigger twice more, the first breaking off the chitin protecting the cranium, the next bursting the head like an over ripened fruit. She pushed herself off the ground quickly, sprinting down the hallway, the shattering wood of the door and scraping of claws of the ground and walls all the incentive she needed to fall back through the palace.

Ejecting the spent clip she loaded up another, diving behind a wall she waited, her ears strained, listening on the sound of claws coming closer and closer. Taking a deep breath she whipped around, both her hands on his pistol, her blue eyes aiming down the iron sight. The Genestealer didn't feel the fear that any other creature would have, charging headlong into Marlene's well-placed shots. It didn't last long, three shots from Marlene' pistol dropping it dead in it's tracks, its chest blown open by the explosive power of her bullets.

She quickly drew a bead on the next Genestealer, firing off several more shots. The rounds impacted the carapace, but the Genestealer had learned, it kept itself moving, forcing Marlene to adjust her shooting, the thicker carapace of the legs and chest taking the damage, but Marlene won eventually, the ninth round detonating in the Genestealer's opened maw. It collapsed to the ground, skidding along for several more feet before resting dead at her boots, the black ichors pooling around its shattered body. She ejected her empty magazine, slamming a new one into the weapon. She looked around, swinging her body from left to right, sweeping the corridor with her eyes. "Where did the other three go?" She thought quietly.

Faintly, in what seemed to be the back of her mind she heard a faint scraping sound, but in her adrenaline-high state she turned quickly, unintentionally coming face to face with a rather angry Genestealer. Its reaction time was faster than hers, not to mention that it got the drop on Marlene. The Genestealer's bulk dropped her to the ground, its Feeder tendrils whipping all along her face, leaving trails of slime as they tried to find an entrance into her head. Her armor wasn't able to withstand the claw of the Genestealer as it plunged into her body, forcing synthetic blood from her lips. She raised her arms, a thought activating the long blades attached to her wrists. Grimacing in pain, she slammed her metallic forehead into the Genestealer's face, stunning it for a moment, just long enough for Marlene to give its chest a powerful kick.

The 'Stealer flew off of her, falling hard on its back several feet away, Marlene's boot-print permanently embedded in its cracked chest Carapace. Her mind warned her of the sounds of more claws on hard stone, that the last two were coming for her, right as she pounced the fallen Genestealer, her hand balled into a fist as she drove it home into one of the black eyes, her fist slamming hard into its face, her bionic strength splintering the carapace while her blade slammed hard into the rough stones at the opposite side of its head, causing sparks to fly. Slowly, she stood, the moonlight playing across her face, her eyes alight with liquid pools of silver. With a slick sound her blades retracted back into her gauntlets. The remaining two came closer, and Marlene bent down to grab her fallen pistol, checking the side where the ammunition counter blinked the number of shots left. Nodding to herself she turned and bolted down the corridor, moving towards the sound.

"Shari," She yelled into her comm.-link, sharply turning a corner, her pistol held in both hands. Slowly, she peaked around the corner, her hair matted to her forehead by sweat and genestealer blood and slime. "How are things at HQ?" She panted, keeping her arms outstretched and close to her body, pistol in hand. Her body deadened the pain, the only feeling from the grievous wound in her side being the warm blood that slid from the gash.

"Not too shabby, Charlie and Delta Company took out the PDF here that attacked us. Apparently, the reason none of them ever spoke is because they were genestealer cultists. After we cut them down we found scattered pieces of chitin, and one of them had a third arm he was hiding under his uniform somehow. They kept mumbling about the coming of the Hive Mind and some-such, which means we have an incoming fleet. A Valkyrie is in en-route to pick you up. Try not to miss this flight or Alissi is going to kill you. Shari out."

The scraping of the claws on stone came closer and closer, Marlene waiting for only a few more moments before turning around the corner. Her pistol was held out in one hand, the as the first of the genestealers came into sight. With a roar of anger she opened fire, charging at the beast herself. Her finger repeatedly tightened around the trigger, her bullets blasting carapace from its body all over. Marlene leapt at the creature right before it jumped to tackle her, her plated shoulder crashing into its face. Splinters of busted carapace drifted down from its crushed skull. She tucked herself into a roll upon landing, coming up in a crouch, her pistol in both hands. In the low light she could barely see the flash of light reflected off the General's newly formed and glistening exterior bolt for the window. Pushing herself off the ground she sprinted forward, trying to catch him before he could get to freedom, but the crash of shattering glass was all that greeted her. Panting, she looked down into the fire-lit streets, catching the General speeding off on all eight of his limbs at an inhuman speed.

"Hm," She mumbled, taking a step back before throwing herself out of the window. The landing of a six-hundred and fifty pound armored machine-woman was not taken lightly by the ground, the seventy-foot fall combined with her weight causing the asphalt to crater around where she landed. Pulling herself up and over a large piece of upturned street she bolted after the fleeing General, pushing her mechanical body to its limits, gaining speed with the fleeing General. She brought her weapon up, firing off several shots that missed only narrowly, chunks of asphalt flying into the air. One shot, the last one in her weapon, managed to strike the hybrid, his weakened carapace unable to withstand the blast.

Its cry of pain was like a twisted parody of a genestealers cry and a human scream. It didn't collapse to the ground; the speed was much too fast for that. Instead, the impact of the weapon knocked it off balance, its face grinding hard into asphalt. Marlene skidded to a stop beside him, her boots burning hot with friction, dual black streak marks leading from where she'd attempted to stop several yards away. "You caused me a great deal of trouble and physical pain, monster. So before I kill you I want to know two things. First: When will your Fleet get into the system?" She asked casually reloading her pistol as she pressed her boot down onto his chest.

"The Hive Mind will destroy you, Machine." With what little human emotion he had – and facial structure - he smirked, his eyes reflecting a figure in the background. She didn't hear the genestealer approach, its slender diamantine claws glistening in the firelight. It lifted itself up to strike in the moment Marlene turned her head to see what it was the General's eyes were reflecting.

The flash of violent red light exploded from nowhere, the Genestealer's body obliterated the second the lascannon's beam struck it from the sky. As suddenly as the lascannon's fire had come it disappeared, replaced by the blinding radiance of the Valkyrie's spotlight. Alissi stood in the doorway of the aircraft, holding on desperately to the wide-brimmed hat that threatened to be blown away, in her other arm the massive form of a lascannon. "Good evening, mother!" She cried, waving for only a brief moment before her hands returned to keeping her hat on.

"Now, about that answer." Marlene turned to look down on the face of the general, a face that wasn't smiling so much anymore. She leveled her pistol down at his head, waiting for several moments more before pulling the trigger, the bullet tearing through his eye to detonate in his skull. Removing her boot from his chest she turned, walking slowly towards the Valkyrie.

Nanoka pressed herself against the wall, nodding sharply to Jenell. In her hands she held a small cylindrical object, one finger hooked through the small loop at the end of a wire. Jenell swung around to the door, opening it quickly. Nanoka pulled hard on the wire. Feeling it come out, she turned and threw the grenade against the room's far wall, Jenell shutting the door the instant it was through the open doorway. A loud _'bang' _was heard on the other side, Jenell kicking down the door before aiming her lasrifle at the blinded and stunned inhabitants, Nanoka moved in beside her, shaking her head. "Civilians," Nanoka said, motioning her weapon towards the doorway. Talia and the other Striker moved into the room after the pair. Nanoka leaned in, opening the door, her weapon at her shoulder. Jenell was quick to follow her in, the pair each sweeping a different side of the room.

"Clear," Jenell lowered her weapon. "Sergeant, this hab-block is clear. We're returning to the rendezvous point n-."

"CONTACTS!" One of the Strikers cried out followed by a burst of gunfire that was cut short by the heavy thump of the woman colliding with the ground. Quickly the pair turned to see a horrifying sight. Talia lie grappling with a mutated woman, her skin studded with carapace, her teeth filed to fangs. The mutant woman snapped and frothed, her teeth aiming for Talia's throat. As for the other Striker, what was left of her was being torn apart by several of the hybrid cultists. Nanoka aimed for the cultist on top of Talia, firing off a controlled burst. The woman's body exploded in a shower of pink-misted gore. Jenell opened fire on the room, her lasrifle's modification to squad-support weapon proving useful as she laid down a withering salvo of gunfire, the air quickly filled with the sound of racing guns as Talia and Nanoka both turned their weapons to the room of cultists. The mutated bodies of their enemies shattered under the blistering hail of firepower, entire bodies obliterated by the unending hail of gunfire until the last of them dropped, entire sections of its body torn off.

The dim light of the city pooled through the bullet holes in the walls, reflecting off the spreading sea of blood making seem as if it were inflamed. The three remaining Strikers lowered their weapons slowly, as if they didn't trust that the shattered bodies of the cultists were truly dead. Jenell was the first of the trio to make a move. Kneeling beside their fallen squad-mate she said a quick prayer, pressing both tabs at the dead woman's neck. Jenell lifted her faceplate solemnly, reaching down and grabbing the Striker's tags. With a harsh tug they came free, Jenell pocketing them quickly enough. Her voice was stricken with grief. "Striker Second Class Jenell Bauer reporting, Striker down," She paused, taking one last glance at the torn woman. "Kylie is dead. Requesting Rules of Engagement be changed to Red level. We're dealing with Genestealer cultists."

"Affirmative, Alpha Company's Rules of Engagement are now at level Red. If isn't one of us blow it to hell. Alexandria out,"

"What a mess," Talia remarked, kicking one of her empty shell casings into the spreading pool. "What are we going to do about her body?"

"We'll come back for it, but right now we need to get this done. This place needs to be cleared out, now. If we don't hurry this infection will call in a Splinter Fleet." Jenell walked through the door, Talia calling after her.

"What if they already have?"

Jenell turned to face Talia, her face hidden behind the skull-motif of her face plate. The dark blue eyes of the helmet stared into those of Talia's. "That's a stupid question, Talia, and you know it."

"What were those… things…?" Nanoka breathed, slumping to her knees. Gingerly, she removed her helmet, quickly sucking in greedy breaths of air, her nose and throat stinging with the rancid smell of released bowels and cooked flesh. Nanoka's large blue eyes were wide, distant and searching.

Talia looked over to Jenell, switching vox channels to specifically speak only with her. "I think she's suffering from Nid-shock." She shifted the heavy rifle in her arms to rest on her shoulder, the large weapon. Jenell nodded, looking over to Nanoka. Jenell slung her heavy weapon onto her back, pulling off her helmet, placing it in the crook of her arm. She knelt down near Nanoka, her hand reassuringly patting the young woman's back, giving it a few rubs.

"Nanoka, it's all right. They're not people, they aren't civilians. You did the right thing, the good thing." She spoke in a sweet soothing tone, like that used to calm a crying child. "What they had become was sinister, without thought or care for human life. Just look at what they did to Kylie, what they tried to do to Talia," Her hand gently guided Nanoka's chin, turning her head to face her, forcing her eyes to meet with Jenell's. "Take a deep breath, Nanoka, and relax. Just relax."

She nodded slowly, the girl closing her eyes, focusing. Her breathing calmed, the quick pace it had taken up after removing her helmet slowing drastically, returning to normal. Keeping her eyes shut she groped along the pool of blood, searching for her helmet. Feeling the warm ceramite in her hands she pulled it from the lake of crimson liquid, placing it back on her head. She grasped her fallen rifle, lifting the heavy weapon as if it were paper in her hands. Using it to pull herself up off the ground, Nanoka looked over her shoulder to Talia, then to the rising form of Jesell. "Thank you both. I'm better now."

"Tyranid shock, it happens to the best of us. We think that they emit some psychic power, but it seems to have a delayed response in us, where as just about every other regiment succumbs during combat instead of after. Thankfully it seems to be a one-shot deal. So congratulations, FNG, you've just overcome your first xenos-fear." Jenell slapped her hard on the shoulder. "Yukari, we're moving back to the rendezvous point now. See you in ten." Beckoned for Talia and Nanoka to follow her as she moved out the door, Nanoka rushing ahead to be in the front of the line. Talia took a step out the door, but glanced back behind her. Unclipping a grenade from her belt she tossed it into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"All right squad. Listen closely. We're at Hab Block Three. Sub-Commander Vitaria is clearing out the Dachau Clothing Plant as we speak, she'll rendezvous with us here," The miniature maps in the corner of the squad's HUD's showed the layout of the city, the small blinking light on a small building near the munitions dump. "At the gun factory about eight miles from here, now according to aerial surveillance between us and that factory is a whole shitload of fortified hostiles. Command has deemed the operation level Red, so civilians are now considered free game. However, this is a genestealer cult that has been in progression for a long while now. If we find civilians without mutations protect them. Kylie isn't dying for a dead planet. Are we understood?"

"Yes ma'am," The squad replied in unison.

"And Nanoka," Yukari turned, looking at her specifically. "Good work tonight." Yukari stood up, ramming a new magazine into her rifle. "Lock and load, ladies. We've got a party to crash."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

**The Price of War**

Laura was angry and it showed. "I take it you have a reason for letting a Genestealer cult infiltrate your PDF regiment and attack my headquarters." Laura said bitterly, glaring at General Lawrence from her seat. "If I didn't know any better," she said, drawing her handgun from its holster. "I'd say you were part of it, just like some of your senior officers I've shot."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Commander." He held up his hands as Laura drew her pistol. "Honestly, Commander, we're civilized people! I wasn't aware of any attack on your headquarters." He lowered his hands again, sliding them out of Laura's sight.

"I'm sure." She said venomously. "If that's the case then why weren't you at the screening we held less than an hour ago? All of your staff passed, excluding the officers. Is that how it works, you went for all of the higher ups and worked your way down? Or perhaps you're a little sicker than that, waiting for the splinter fleet to arrive so you can lead the uninfected troops right into the maw of the swarm."

"I mistook you women. You're really not at all what you seemed to be," Lawrence smiled. His finger tightened around the trigger of the las-pistol he held under the table, the crack of ionized air didn't even startle Laura. The scarlet beam of energy bounced harmlessly off her refractor shield, striking the General in the groin.

With a sigh, Laura stood up, her handgun pointed at the General's head. "Either you're a traitor or a fool. Regardless of which you are you're only one thing now," She relished the look of shock and surprise on his face before she pulled the trigger, his head exploding in a shower of skull fragments and brain matter. "Dead," she finished, holstering her weapon and walking out of the office.

The debris of the ruined city crunched under Talia's boots as she bolted from the safety of the garbage can, lasbolts and heavy stubber rounds kicking up the dust around her before she slid into the safety behind a ruined vehicle. Panting from behind the skull motif of her faceplate she pulled the heavy sniper rifle from her back, her hand closing around the bolt to check the round inside. Finding the massive round secure and ready to fire she looked over to the garbage dumpster the rest of the squad was hiding behind, giving Yukari a thumbs up.

"All right, squad, covering fire!" She cried, leaning out from behind the dumpster, the roar of her weapon opening fire on the fortified balcony followed by the similar sound of eight others. From behind the barricade the defenders ducked, keeping their heads down as the destructive round whistled over their heads, striking pillar and wall with devastating force. Chips of plaster and rockcrete rained around their heads for several heart-wrenching moments before the fire slowed to a trickle. Tentatively, the defenders raised their heads, taking stock of their ruined position. The stubber team resumed fire on the dumpster, heavy dents punched into its plating by the stubber's rounds.

Talia's aim was perfect, the bead of her crosshairs falling on the head of the gunner. Steadying her breathing for just a moment, and braving herself against the recoil of her sniper rifle, she pulled the trigger. A crack unlike any other issued from her rifle, her bullet tearing through his head and taking the shoulders along with it, the corpse flying into the back wall as nothing more than a lower torso with a large smear mark. Jerking hard on the bolt with her hand the heavy casing flew out the opening, bouncing on the ground with a slight _'ping'_. Pulling another bullet from the pack at her side she pressed a slug into the rifle, shutting the bolt with a sharp clicking noise.

His loader ducked down behind the sand bags, but Talia's shot wouldn't be stopped by such simple barricades, her round shearing through the sand bag to impact and pass through his chest. Briefly, before all went black he noticed his lower body propped up against the sand bags, and couldn't seem to figure out just why he couldn't feel them anymore. Talia tugged hard on the bolt, the spent cartridge ejecting out the side of the gun, only for another round to be fed into the breach. Grunting with the effort of lifting her heavy sniper rifle she focused down the sight once more, steadying her aim by controlling her breathing.

"We're clear!" Talia said over the vox, Nanoka peeking around the dented metal to gaze up at the empty balcony. The cratered walls still sprinkled down pieces of broken rockcrete and plaster, holes punched clear through the walls in some places. Most noticeable was the long scarlet smear where the gunner's body had slammed against the wall. Shaking her head she looked over to Yukari who made a quick beckoning motion to her, looking over an upraised piece of asphalt.

"Squad, move up." Yukari ordered curtly, aiming down her sight at the nearby street corner. The miniature map in her HUD blinked several times on the upper corner, the small blue dots of her team lining up behind her. Cautiously, she poked her head around the corner only to be met with the staccato of crackling ionized air, the multi-laser opening up on the street corner. She shot back into cover, chunks of rockcrete blasted from the wall where her head was only moment ago.

"Shimatta!" Yukari cried angrily, looking down at her scarred and cracked shoulder-plates. "I'll kill him!" She turned the corner again, crouching down as her finger tightened on the trigger. The gun emplacement fell silent, the gunner hiding behind the rockcrete wall of the hab-building. Flipping up an additional ironsight with her thumb she aimed carefully, moving the small switch on the side of her gun down one more notch before pulling the trigger. Her rifle made a quiet 'thunk' noise, the fragmentation grenade shooting from the under-slung barrel. It traveled for a few yards before smacking into the multi-laser itself, detonating in a deadly hail of shrapnel and cooking off the multi-laser battery. Yukari snorted at the resultant explosion of the battery, the alcove which had protected the gun emplacement fell with a dying groan of unsupported stone followed the thunderous crash of its fall.

"No one shoots me." Lifting her faceplate she brought her smoking barrels to her lips, theatrically giving them a hard puff. She looked back to her squad-mates, smirking before closing her helmet again.

The nine women continued down the littered street, the occasional western breeze kicking up a loose piece of paper and causing it to briefly dance in the air before settling back on the ground. All around the faint staccato of lasguns and Kivian rifles filled the city air, occasionally punctured by a scream of terror quickly silenced by a single crack of gunfire that always seemed louder than the rest. The previous rainfall left puddles in the alleyways that they walked through, their heavy boots splashing in the small pools of water. Ahead a red building loomed in the distance; surface scarred by flames and lasbolts. They came to a stop at the main door, each of the women scattering while Yukari spoke over the vox to headquarters.

"Go ahead and relax, get some fresh air while I receive new orders and information." Yukari ordered. The girls responded enthusiastically, the sharp hissing noises filling the air as the women removed their helmets, breathing in deep breaths of air that smelled faintly of smoke, but of pines and various other types of trees as well.

"It looks like a school." Nanoka remarked, fighting off the sudden feeling of homesickness that welled from her breast. Images of home ran through her mind, recalling feelings of intense happiness at her first kiss in the schoolyard as a little child. A tear welled in her eye, its host angrily blinking it away.

"Wow Nanoka, really! A school! You didn't happen to actually see the sign hanging over the door that says 'Capitol Secondary Schola' did you?" Talia sarcastically replied. Nanoka blushed scarlet, looking away.

"Oh, shut up Talia." Jenell rested the heavy support weapon on the wall next to her, its black surface a stain on the red façade of the school building. "Hey Mitsuko," She looked over to the squad's medicae who was busy punching information into her datapad at her wrist. "What do you think the odds are of you actually having to do some work today?" Jenell grinned, resting her back against the wall.

"Why don't you do what you told Talia to, silly Kraut." She responded, shutting her datapad. "At least I serve a useful purpose."

"Oh? And when was the last time you did something useful? When was the last time anyone actually got _hurt_?" Jenell replied with a raise of her eyebrows. She folded her arms under her breasts, tapping her finger to her forearm while she waited for Mitsuko's answer.

"You can thank our home world for not being a bunch of backwards chimps like some of the others we've fought along-side. Me patching you up is a bad thing, not that you'd know."

"Eh? What the hell is that supposed to mean!? One more word, Mitsuko, and I'll tear your face off. _Verdammt." _Jenell replied huffing with anger. She kicked a small rock against the wall, the stone bouncing off the red surface.

"You see, Nanoka? Jenell has had irregular periods forever." Mitsuko sighed theatrically, shrugging in a gesture of pointlessness with a shake of her head. The women in the squad laughed uproariously, Jenell's face puffing up with anger as she took a few steps towards the squad's medic, her fist raised.

"Just wait until we're off duty, Mitsuko! Just you wait!" She yelled, shaking her fist menacingly at Mitsuko, who simply grinned and shrugged.

"Why? So you can try to get in my pants again? I was lucky I had the stun gun the first time around or you might've actually got-." Mitsuko was cut short by a sharp scream from inside the school building. The Strikers reacted instantly, grabbing their rifles. The squad aimed their weapons at the door, all except for Nanoka, who, with all the grace of a falling nuclear missile, kicked down the school door and bolted inside, Yukari calling after her.

"No, Nanoka! Wait!" Yukari cried as Nanoka disappeared into the dim light of the building. Cursing Yukari motioned with her hand for the squad to follow.

Nanoka followed the screams and cries of terror she hardly realized that she was running in the darkness, with only the dim lights of the building or the occasional electrical spark to light her way. _'Emperor,'_ She thought to herself, her thought punctuated by every heavy footstep on the ground. _'Don't let me be late!' _She continued running down the hallways. Sub-consciously she took in the numbers and letters on every wooden door she passed. Behind her she could hear the faint voices and heavy footfalls of her companions, but she paid them no mind, her thoughts focused solely on the owners of the screams that she'd heard.

Another scream, muffled this time, echoed through a nearby hall, stopping Nanoka in her tracks. The soldier looked towards the corridor that the voice had come from, seeing a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Muffled voices reached her ears, followed by another terrified scream. Nanoka wasted no more time, sprinting towards the end of the corridor she leaned hard on the door, finding it blocked. Through the metal she could faintly hear voices, and she struggled to hear, pressing her ear against the cold entrance.

"Get away from me, monster!" A female voice cried, followed by the crash of shattering glass against a hard surface, and the gentle tinkle of its fall to the ground.

"I've always liked you, Emma. There is a way to get away from all of this. This life, with its pains and sorrows. We can be together, Emma. Together as one in the eyes of the Hive Mind."

Nanoka had heard all she needed to. Taking a step back she lashed out with her leg, her plated foot crashing hard against the door. One the other side the barricade made of various wooden items broke, the make-shift wall moved back away from the door enough for Nanoka to just barely slip through.

The cultist turned to look at the broken barricade. He narrowed his bestial eyes and bared his teeth in a sharp hiss as Nanoka slipped through the door. Nanoka quickly dove for an up turned table. Pausing as she took a moment to take in her situation, she reached for her rifle and was shocked to find it wasn't there. "Shimatta," She cursed violently, not finding a need to poke her head up over the table, as she could simply hear the patter of his shoes on the floor as he came closer. Grimacing, she released her wrist-blades, the un-used weapons sliding easily and silently from their sheathes at her arms.

His footsteps came closer and closer, Nanoka preparing herself mentally for the fight ahead of her before she pushed up on her legs, her hand grabbing the table lifting her body into the air and propelling herself at the cultist. Her boots caught him straight in the chest, knocking him back several feet while she came down hard, breaking the tiles under her back. Pushing herself up off the ground she assumed her fighting stance, bringing her left arm far back, to where her knuckles touched her chin, and the other extended to the point where her elbow only barely bent. The pair circled each other slowly, like sharks waiting for a meal.

Naturally, his patience wore out first. The cultist lunged for Nanoka, wicked claws nearly impossible to see in the low-light of the room. Only by training and sharp senses did she narrowly manage to avoid his swipes for her face, grunting with the effort of ducking and weaving out of the way of his natural weapons.

She lashed back, punching forward with her retracted arm, the razor-sharp blade tearing through skin and muscle, exiting out his back. He cried out in pain, Nanoka twisting the blade slowly before wrenching it out of his body.

"You bitch! I'll kill you!" He screamed, clawing for her. He came close, Nanoka raising her arms just in time to catch the claws on her wrist-blades in a shower of sparks. His strength was greater than hers by only a little, the combined force of both his arms slowly making her sink as she struggled to keep her wrist-blades locked together as a shield that prevented the claws from shearing her in two. She pushed up against his arms, making little headway, but enough to anger the beast within him. Roaring with fury he kicked Nanoka's armored stomach with all the force of a charging grox.

The force of the blow knocked the breath from Nanoka's lungs in addition to sending her rocketing back several feet. She had little time to recover before he was all over her again, his claws gouging into the ground where she had been only a moment previous, Nanoka rolling off to the side. With haste born of desperation she pushed herself off the ground, only to be forced to roll away by a low swipe from the cultist.

Nanoka landed crouched on the balls of her feet before bolting off towards the cultist, on the offensive now. He came closer to being within striking distance, and for only a brief moment, the opportunity to strike was there, the exposed flesh of his neck so inviting for her blades. Her cry echoed through the room as she thrust her fist forwards, the blood-slicked blade puncturing the man's throat. She tore the weapon free from his neck in a spray of black cancerous blood, her twist carrying her upraised leg as her foot collided hard with his face, sending his body flying into the opposite corner of the room. The hybrid didn't stand again. She let out a relieved sigh as her muscles began to relax, her heart slowing down to a more normal pace. She looked over to the girl huddled against

"Are there any other civilians here?" Nanoka asked with a smile, kneeling down next to the young woman. Her blades slid back into her wrists with the slow scrape of metal against ceramite, leaving her hands free to gently shake the girl's shoulder. "Its okay, miss, I'm a human, just like you." Nanoka spoke softly, caressing the young woman's shoulder. Granted, it wasn't the easiest thing to do with an armaplas gauntlet, but Nanoka managed to do the saying 'it's the thought that counts' justice.

The girl's wide and terror stricken eyes cleared up slowly, revealing the boiling emotions of hatred, fear, and a small amount of adoration. The young woman shut her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath with an incredibly slow exhale. "Yes, I can take you to them... you must be a guardian angel, the Emperor's saving grace. You can help us, save us." Heavy footfalls echoed down the hallways along the occasional sound of a rifle hitting armored ceramite, catching Nanoka's attention. She turned her head to look down the corridor, giving the woman's shoulder a squeeze.

"My friends are coming to help," She looked back to the girl, noticing the worried and fearful look returning to her face. "Don't worry." Nanoka stood to her full height, turning to look at the Strikers as they wedged their way through the narrow passage of the doors. Naturally, Yukari was at the head of the pack, her steps heavy and menacing. Nanoka was taken aback by the fierceness of her Sergeant's gaze before she felt the impact of Yukari's fist against her cheek. She staggered back before falling onto her butt, her jaw and cheekbone aching, it was clear that Yukari had held back. Gently she touched her face, the coppery taste of blood welling up from the side of her mouth.

"Baka," Yukari shouted, grabbing Nanoka by the front of her armor she lifted the woman up, slamming her violently into the wall. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?! What the hell were you thinking? Running off into the darkness like that without your rifle, or even your sidearm. You could have been killed, or led all of us into an ambush! Do you simply have a thinking problem or are you just stupid, Yoshioka?"

"Yukari-san, let her go. She's new, and she still killed the target." Mitsuko argued in Nanoka's defense, moving to kneel beside the terror-stricken girl. All of the Strikers had their faceplates down, nothing more than the emotionless visage of a blue-eyed skull staring unblinkingly around the room.

"Shut up, Mitsuko," Yukari snapped back, focusing her attention on Nanoka again. "Listen up, Yoshioka, screw up again and I'll personally take an interest in seeing you suffer. You _never _put the lives of your team or yourself in jeopardy for any reason. Got that?"

"Yes ma'am," Nanoka replied quietly, Yukari stepping back. She pulled Nanoka's rifle from her back, tossing it to its owner carelessly.

"Next time you decide to play knight-in-shining-armor bring your weapon with you. The next thing you fight may not be so kind as to let you win." Yukari turned her gaze down to the young woman sitting on the floor. "Did she say if there were any survivors?"  
"Yes ma'am, she said there was a group of them. She's going to lead us there."

"I see," Yukari said thoughtfully, her hand sliding her side-arm from is holster. "Mitsuko, check her blood. Make sure she isn't one of them." Yukari ordered emotionlessly, pointing the heavy pistol at Emma.

"Yukari-san, I don't think that's necessary." Mitsuko replied.

"Just do it, Hayate." Yukari said with a sigh of resignation.

Mitsuko shook her head, reaching into the large pack at her side. She revealed a small metal object to the woman, its sharpened needle outlined in the faint light of the room. "Put your hand out for me, miss." Mitsuko said gently, smiling from behind her helmet. The girl nodded quickly, holding out her pale hand. Mitsuko worked swiftly, jabbing the needle into Emma's palm and quickly pulling it out, pressing her thumb over the miniscule puncture. Carefully, she pressed the needle to her open datapad, information sliding down its tiny screen. If she was shocked or dismayed she showed no sign of it. She closed the datapad, nodding to Yukari.

"She's clean ma'am. She's human."

"Good," Yukari holstered her pistol, motioning for Emma to stand up. "We'll follow you." Emma nodded, pushing herself up off the ground. She straightened her blouse and flipped out her hair with a deep sigh. She focused her eyes on the hallway down ahead of her at the broken door opposite the one Nanoka had come through hanging for its life by its hinges. Huge claw marks and obvious dents in the metal plating bespoke of the punishment the cultist must have given in the attempt to get it open. She walked at a brisk pace, leading the way into the darkness that consumed the Strikers that followed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**If This Is Home…**

Marlene rested her head back against her seat. Now that the adrenaline and the painkillers had worn off, the gash in her side had begun to hurt a great deal. Her hand pressed to the wound, stemming the bleeding, yet she still struggled to smile for the little girl sitting opposite of her. Her body had been damaged severely; the blow she had taken had come very near to killing her. It would have, if it was only a little higher. The constant vibrations of the Valkyrie weren't helping much either.

"Mother, I'm not stupid, I can see you're in pain." Alissi moved seats, sitting next to Marlene. Setting her hat aside she gently pried Marlene's fingers from her critical wound. "Sweet Emperor," She cried as she recoiled, her eyes wide. "Mother, look at you! That wound isn't something you can simply ignore! Pilot, how long until we're back at HQ? The Vice-Commander needs a doctor right away before she dies of blood loss!"

"I'm fine, really. Even in the event I run out of blood life support would kick in and keep my brain alive anyway." Marlene replied tiredly, "I just need some rest now stop fiddling with me and go bug the pilots some."

"I'm not leaving you, Marlene." The little girl smiled solemnly, nuzzling close to the woman who had for the past eighty years been her mother. Marlene simply nodded, drifting off to a hazy sleep. Alissi stared at Marlene for a long while before leaning over and kissing her cheek. "Sweet dreams, mother." She turned in a swirl of black and white skirts, bowing before the Valkyrie pilots. "How much longer? My mother is in bad shape and needs a doctor."

"We know, Alissi, we're going as fast as we can. We should be there in twenty-five minutes." One of the pilots responded, looking up to the control panel on the ceiling, making adjustments.

"Don't worry about it. We'll be there in no time, Alissi." The co-pilot looked over and smiled to her. Vaguely, she recognized him as the newest pilot in the Valkyrie Corps the Strikers used. Alissi nodded. Returning to her seat she rested her head on Marlene's armored chest. She didn't mind the discomfort; she only cared for the shared warmth between her and Marlene. Her thoughts, however, were not untroubled.

"What do you want most for your birthday, Alissi?" Marlene asked, leaning down over the wheelchair, looking at the small girl upside-down with a smile. "It can be anything, anything at all." She pushed the wheelchair along slowly, the lights of the hospital reflected off pearly white walls and clean tiles, her pumps making quiet 'clicking' sounds on the ground as she walked. Alissi turned her head, looking up at Marlene as best she could.

"But… Marlene… Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked quietly, and innocently, her wide eyes looking up expectantly at Marlene, whose mood seemed to darken for only a moment. Alissi looked away, 'Did I say something wrong?' she thought to herself, becoming lost in the thoughts that weighed down on her mind.

"Because, I was never given the chance," She replied softly, one of her hands patting Alissi's shoulder gently. "I was simply abandoned by everyone, left to die like so many others. I couldn't see that happen to you. I couldn't let you die alone like that, Alissi." Marlene leaned forward, pushing open the hospital doors while maneuvering the wheelchair out of exit, a gust of warm air blasted into her face suddenly by the outside wind. Ahead vehicles bustled, the shining sun reflected off of windows and paint schemes. The sidewalks were bustling with people, some happy, others with shadowed eyes and strange gaits. Many spoke on mobile vox transceivers, keeping touch with others.

"It's not as big or pretty as Skybreak, but I think you'll come to like it in time. Want some ice cream?" Marlene asked, leaning around the side of the wheelchair.

Alissi's face brightened instantly, her melancholy mood shattered. She shook her head enthusiastically, her smile seeming to stretch from ear to ear and her youthful wide eyes twinkling with the prospect of a scoop of ice cream. "Yes, yes, please! I'd love some ice cream, Marlene!" She replied excitedly.

"Then let's go get some." Marlene smiled back at the child. They passed under the massive shadows of towering skyscrapers as they touched the dark blue sky. All around the pair the cacophony of city noise pounded in the air. The honking of horns, the cries of street and window vendors, the rush of vehicles passing by, or the occasional breeze that rippled through the tightly packed groups of men and women. Marlene stopped at a small vendor on the side of a park street, the breezy air whispering of snacks. Smiling Marlene looked down at Alissi as she chose her ice cream.

"That'll be three dollars and ninety-five cents." The vendor said, holding out her hand. Marlene nodded, placing the five folded bills in the salesperson's hand, handing Alissi her ice cream. Cute kid by the way. If I may suggest, there's a clothing shop right down the street aways; they've got some lovely dresses for little girls."

"Ah, thank you," Marlene nodded her head to the old lady, "Would you like to go get some dresses, Alissi?"

"Very much, Marlene," She replied happily over her double-scoop of chocolate sprinkled ice cream, taking a big bite off the top piece and sighing with delight. "Thank you, Madame for the ice cream, and your compliment!"

"And miss, be careful around these parts. We've been having issues lately with some gangsters running around. The provosts say there's no evidence of any crimes they've committed, but that's only because the women they've been attacking are too scared to come forward."

"Or because the provosts simply don't give a damn." Marlene replied, waving to the vendor.

Moments later, they were in the dressing room of a small shop, Marlene helping Alissi to get on the small red and white dress she had chosen. On the nearby rank hung several more of various colors, but most seemed to be differing versions of a black and red or black and white color scheme.

"I like it," She said, looking at herself in the mirror.

"I agree, you're very pretty." Marlene placed her hand on a handlebar of the wheelchair. "Is this all you want?" She asked, hooking the group of dresses over her arm.

"Yes. Marlene…" She paused, looking at her hands. "Thank you for buying me all these things." She replied quietly. Marlene nodded, pushing the wheelchair out of the dressing room doorway.

"My, she's a cutie!" The lady behind the counter said, handing Marlene back her checking card. Alissi looked up, smiling brightly at the compliment.

"Thank you, Madame." She replied, her cheeks glowing red with embarrassment.

_Ring, ring, ring! _Marlene looked down at the side of her skirt, the mobile vox clipped there flashing with each ring. She grabbed the vox from the hook, holding it to her ear. "Excuse me," She said, covering the receiver. She walked further down the aisles of the shopping store, her eyes on hats while she listened to the rather eager voice of Laura.

"Marlene, we're being considered for the next Regiment come tithe in a year. It's possible that we could be getting the hell off this oppressive planet!" Laura practically shouted over the vox, Marlene holding it a distance away, rubbing her ear with her pinky.

"Mein Gott, Laura! Not so loud! I don't want to have to go in for ear replacements before we get transferred to the Imperial Guard. I do hear that it's quite the experience, but the attitude doesn't change much. Instead of fathers, husbands, and anyone else in power oppressing us we get the idiots we're supposed to be working along side doing it instead." Marlene replied. Her eyes were glued to a single hat in particular. In her mind's eye she imagined Alissi in her black and white dress, wearing the wide-brimmed black hat she'd found. Nodding to herself she took the hat off the rack, holding it under the crook of her arm as she switched the vox from one ear to another.

"Ah, don't rain on my parade, Marlene! I'm excited about this, you should be too. This is the chance of a lifetime. This is our opportunity to go to new places, new planets! Think of the adventure it'll be!" Laura pouted, earning a laugh from Marlene.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you when I get back to base. I'm bringing along a little surprise."

"Oh no, it isn't another one of those stupid romance movies is it? I'm still teary-eyed from the last one we watched. We're friends, not lovers. I tired of you making me cry all the time!" Laura responded mockingly.

Marlene placed the hat on the counter, getting a curious glance from Alissi and a nod from the counter-lady, who quickly scanned the item before returning it to Marlene. Grinning, she stuck it on Alissi's head. "Hardly, it's even better. See you when I get back." "She flipped the mobile vox closed, reattaching it to the clip at her side. "Thank you again, misses."

"Don't worry about it. Have a nice day." The cashier smiled and waved, Marlene moving the wheelchair forward and out of the door. The streets were thinned significantly, only the occasional person scuttling from one side of the road to the other, waving down a passing transport vehicle. The breeze flowed through the branches of what few trees there were. What little sunlight poked through the dismal cloud cover of Kivat cast massive shadows over the buildings. The shadows crawled over them as they passed under the towering spires until there were simply smaller office buildings to pass under, the streets becoming more and more desolate as night began to fall.

"Marlene, where are we going?" Alissi asked looking up at Marlene with the lines of childhood curiosity etched on her face.

"I'm taking you home to where I live. There are lots of nice people for you to meet." She replied, rubbing Alissi's head briefly, smiling as she did so. For a short moment she turned her eyes towards the stars, which passed from view briefly under the clouds repeatedly. As she brought her eyes down from the sky she noticed it there. In the moonlight, the metal shined just perfectly, a small ring. It was tiny, one meant for the finger of a young woman, or perhaps even, a child. It gleamed in the light, the brightness reflecting off the surface.

Marlene raised an eyebrow, moving slowly towards the glimmering object on the sidewalk beside the street. She bent down to collect on the item, her fingers closing around the cold metal. She lifted it up to the light, examining it for a brief moment before sticking it in her pocket. She turned to leave when a voice called out, followed shortly by several pairs of footsteps. Quickly she whipped around to face the direction of the voice, her movements causing her coat to billow to the side, revealing the brown leather holster of her pistol. Her hand closed around the grip, holding it tightly.

"Oi, oi, oi! You weren't actually planning on taking my ring were you? That might be a little problem." A man emerged from the shadows. The poor lighting was just enough to gleam off the surface of the small metal pipe he menacingly smacked repeatedly against his palm. From behind him, two others with similar weaponry appeared, their attire made of torn and ripped clothing.

She drew her pistol reflexively, both hands on her weapon as she aimed down the barrel of the weapon, her weapon lined up between the lead man's eyes. "If you want it back you can have it, just let us pass." Marlene's voice rang out through the empty streets. The men only smirked, moving closer. Marlene steadied herself, making her body loose in just the right places. Her finger tensed on the trigger, her cold blue eyes turned to the ice of anger. "Don't take another step." She barked, causing one of the men to falter in their step.

"You won't shoot will ya now, missy?" Voices from behind her spoke, followed by the familiar click of a loaded pistol's hammer being pulled back. She gasped with shock, wheeling about quickly, her hair tossed about her head in a mess of loose crimson locks and curls streaked with blue. Two more of the gangsters stood, the one with the pistol had his weapon to Alissi's head, and the girl seemed no less shocked than Marlene. Normally, she would have shot, but in this moment, with the darkness of the night she couldn't tell the make of the handgun. Lowering her weapon Marlene turned to her side, keeping an eye on both groups from the corners of her eyes.

"Damn it," She breathed, glancing from left to right, one group remaining near her terrified daughter, the other moving closer to her, almost within arm's length. Their footsteps echoed in her ears, pounding on the rockcrete endlessly.

"Throw away your gun or your girl won't have a head on her shoulders." The one to her left demanded. Marlene grimaced, tossing her weapon aside. It slid on the ground, stopping under Alissi's feet. Briefly, the little girl looked down at the weapon, before looking concernedly at Marlene. The man beside her grinned wickedly, shrugs his shoulders at the other group. "I didn't think she'd actually do it!" They laughed one of them mock wiping a tear from his eye.

"Leave the girl alone." Marlene demanded, her hands balling into fists. Her eyes remained cold and spiteful, but they were no longer directed at the men. Now she focused on the rockcrete, awaiting what came for her.

"I'm going to enjoy teaching you soldier-bitches a lesson. You're the first!" The hard impact of his fist against her cheek caused her to recoil backwards, her teeth cutting open her cheek. Still, she made no movement, spitting the blood from her mouth. The crimson fluid splattered on the ground, Marlene staring at the assembled group of gangsters with all the burning hatred of a million suns.

"You see, the greatest thing about this planet is that matter what we do to you the provosts won't do a thing about it!" She saw it coming, the flash of the metal pipe. He grunted with the effort of swinging it and its impact was felt by Marlene as it impacted her gut, knocking breath from her legs and her body off its feet. Marlene gasped as the breath was knocked from her body, collapsing to her knees as she struggled to get it back. Her hands clutched hard at her stomach, as if to stop the constant white-hot spears of pain that stabbed her brain. "That's a better look for you! On your knees, but I think you should be lower than that." He fingered the metal pipe, grinning to himself before he brought it down with a grunt of exertion. The metal pole impacted hard on her back. Marlene gasped with pain, but she didn't cry out, her fingers scraping against the rockcrete.

"Marlene…" Alissi mumbled, the cold metal of the gun pressed against the side of her head, except for that one tiny empty space where the bullet would come from. Her eyes stared helplessly at Marlene as a punishing blow fell hard upon her back, and with a small sense of pride she realized that Marlene didn't shy from the blows, or cry out. 'She faces the pain with stoicism legendary of the Emperor himself.' She thought to herself, even as she could do no more to help than the Immortal One himself.

"Eat this, you self-righteous wench!" One of them cried, swinging his pipe like a club vertically, catching Marlene square in the face. Specks of blood flew into the air as she fell backwards. Alissi could hear the sound of breaking bones, the sickening _crunch_ that happens when one is smashed. The sound that lingers in the mind long after it's gone. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt!" One of the men laughed at Marlene, who sprawled out on her back, her nose smashed and bones broken. Blood poured from her nose, running down the side of her face.

"Aw, you can't do to sleep now, Soldier-bitch. We're just getting warmed up for the main event! Ain't that right boys?!" They laughed at Marlene, who rolled slowly back onto her knees, pushing herself up. She swayed with uncertain strength in her legs, blood dripping from her chin onto the ground.

"You're all pathetic. It takes five of you to take me on." Marlene smirked defiantly at her attackers, who recoiled in visible anger, their faces red and eyes dark.

"You won't say that after we're through with you."

_Elsewhere…_

"Vita! Where the hell is Marlene? She should have been here twenty minutes ago." Laura shouted from the reception room. Vitaria sighed with exasperation shaking her head.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Commander." She replied, mixing the egg in the bowl with an impossible speed. Setting it aside she wiped her hands on her apron, moving towards the kitchen doorway. She placed her hand on her hip, looking down at the flooring for only a brief moment before turning to look into the concerned eyes of Laura.

"Please go and find her, Vitaria. I have a bad feeling about tonight." Laura turned back towards the barracks door, staring out at the darkness towards the sleeping city.

"Ho," Vitaria returned, untying the apron and hanging it on the coat-rack. She disappeared for a brief moment, the hissing clicks of her armor being set in place from down the hallway. When she returned to the light for the dormitories, she was different; her hair had been pulled up, her armor donned. She was not silent; her heavy boots thudded on the ground with the sound similar to war drums. "I will return shortly."

"Take this!" The head gangster shouted, swinging his dented pipe with all the force he could muster. A splintering crack echoed through the air as it impacted the side of Marlene's knee, shattering the bone there. She couldn't hold back of cry of anguish as bone burst free from skin, poking out of her cream knee-highs, the area around the bloody bone quickly turned black. Marlene collapsed onto one knee, her hand holding the other as two single tears fell from her eyes. She grabbed onto the nearby light pole, using the cold grey metal to pull herself up to standing, clearly favoring her fractured leg.

"I want a crack at her too!" One of them yelled, bringing his weapon down hard against her broken leg. The bone tore through her skin, her leg bent at a ridiculously disgusting angle, her thigh remained pointed towards the ground, but her lower leg was nearly horizontal, her blood pulsing from the grotesque wound. Her vision went black; her body limp as she blacked out from the excruciating pain.

"Marlene!" Alissi screamed. The gangster to her side frowned, smashing the hilt of his pistol against the side of her head. The weapon slammed against her adamantine skull, but she cried out in pain, falling from her wheelchair to the ground. Her body shook as she attempted to push herself up, only to be kicked back down viciously by the foot of the man who had pistol whipped her. She sobbed quitly, her body shaking only slightly with them, tears rolling down her cheek from both the dull pain in her head and her misery at her inability to save the woman who was sacrificing everything for her. 'Please... Sweet merciful Emperor, save us. Save Marlene. She doesn't deserve this!' Alissi prayed silently through her sobs, the words echoing through her mind as she willed them with all her might to become reality.

"Shhh, just watch little girl. Watch and learn. Nothing good comes from being a soldier, but I can teach you to be something better, just like my friends are going to do to your friend." He smiled down at Alissi, running his tongue along the little girl's ear. "You'll hate it at first but you'll warm up to it. Trust me."

Marlene awoke, the streetlight chasing away the darkness at the edge of her vision, only to replace it with a far worse sight. Her consciousness brought a new feeling to her mind, one of not one, but two people and the cool night air against her bare skin and the warm blood that pooled around her wound. "Hey get off; it's my tur- Oi, oi, oi she's awake boys!" One of them shouted, pointing down at her. The ganger on top of her looked at her for only a moment before punching hard into her fractured leg. She cried out, falling backwards. The man only shook his head, preparing to mount the woman once more.

"Enough."

"Huh?" The gangers around Marlene turned towards the owner of the voice, her heavy boots pounding on the ground under her feet. Even the man who was busy forcing himself on Alissi turned to look curiously at the approaching silhouette. She passed under the light, her hand moving towards the hilt at her side.

She drew forth the blade silently, thumbing the activator on the side of the hilt. The blade flashed brightly, causing Vitaria to seem like a star fallen to earth. When the light died down, the blade in her hand shimmered and waved with a blinding fire, the sword's tip touched the ground, and the street parted before the awesome energies. It seemed a if lightning crackled from the blade, arcs of green and gold springing from the weapon to dance upon the ground for the remainder of their short lives. Alissi looked upon the woman, the tears that had sprung to her eyes in her moment of hopelessness and dispair replaced by new tears of relief and joy. In the darkness, Vitaria's radiance was divine, as if the hand of the Emperor himself had come to intervene.

In the center of the hilt, was the most disturbing sight. A single crimson eye moved, roaming as if to take in its surroundings. Her voice, soft spoken and revert to the last could barely be heard over the heavy breathing and the muffled cries of Marlene. "Aeris, there will be no mercy." She kissed the hilt, the weapon responding with a musical thrumming sound in the air.

"Yes, my master."

"Enough of this!" A gangster shouted, raising his auto-pistol. He pulled the trigger, the clap of the weapon followed by the bullet sailing through the air registering in everyone's minds. Vitaria didn't blink, behind her eyes the partially cybernetic brain worked with split second precision, her arm flashing out in response to the immediate calculations.

A quiet tingle rang through the air, even at the distance between the soldier and the group. The two halves of the bullet collided with the ground. Vitaria's face emotionless.

She moved quickly, impossibly so for any human, but the mechanical marvel that was her bionic body made allowances for that. Her boots slammed on the ground, her sword singing through the air as it cut down the slow coming bullets until finally they stopped coming. She was on top of him in seconds, her sword biting through flesh and bone as easily as a knife through air. He parted easily before the might of her ancient power sword, his body shorn in two. Organs, once held together by the form of his body sprang free like snakes, twisting and oozing as the dual halves of him fell to the ground.

Shouts of fear and anger rose up through the assembled gangers, some stepped back, their eyes wide, and others grabbed their primitive weapons. Vitaria turned quickly to face the remaining four, her sword's mechanical voice feminine, and chilling to hear. "I have served my master's family for over a thousand years; I will continue to serve her will. She has decreed that there is no mercy." The sparks of pure energy flared, shooting forth from the weapon as she brought the weapon back up into stance, her legs spread slightly, her body loose and staggered. Her face was more like stone, completely unmoving except for the occasional break of her lips to take a shallow and swift breath.

The gang-leader looked on with terror at the seemingly blazing figure, coming at her with his bloody metal pipe. It must have been an inspiration of some sort, because another followed him in, carrying his own improvised weapon. They approached her quickly, one from the left and the other straight from the front.

The leader swung hard with an angered cry. Vitaria bent back quickly, his weapon sailing past her chest harmlessly, she turned aside of the second gangster's swing, his weapon flying through empty air where Vitaria once was. The one in front of her brought his weapon around for another swing, screaming furiously at her.

She glared at the man, catching the crude club easily in her hand. She squeezed only slightly, her thumb pushing up. The pipe bent before her might, turning from a straight weapon into an 'L' shape with the screech of tortured metal, in the same action she drew back her sword arm before ramming it forward, the ancient blade passing through him as if his body were nothing more than air. He gasped in shock, then convulsed quickly and died, slumping against her sword. It passed through him easily, parting his body. There was no spray of blood as he fell.

His partner quaked with fear; with his arms outstretched he held the pipe as if it were going to shield him, to protect him for the doom that waited. Vitaria turned quickly, looking for only a brief moment upon the terror-stricken face. She placed both hands on the hilt of her sword, cutting diagonally with the ease of swinging a string. The lightning and sparks followed after her swing, so quickly had it gone through flesh and air that the trails of its passing had not yet faded from view before her stroke was completed. She didn't wait for his final gasp as he too slipped into two separate pieces, his organs spilling from his torn body like wet oats from a bowl.

"P-please. Mercy! Mercy!" The final ganger cried, dropping his weapon as she scrambled backwards. He tripped over Marlene's prone from, falling hard to the ground. His eyes were wild with fear, his voice quaking in terror.

"Plea-." He said quietly, unable to finish the word before her sword powered through the flesh and bone of his skull, her eyes hidden briefly by her bangs as she followed through the blow with her body, bending as the weapon came to part the earth. His face fell away, pieces of bone still held by the twitching muscle and skin that remained. A bloody flat area stared at Vitaria through non-existent eyes before falling over head first to the ground with a wet _plop. _

Alissi pulled herself up to her hands and knees, crawling towards the prone form of Marlene. She didn't stir, only her chest rose and fell lightly, her breathing ragged. She splashed through the growing pool of blood from Marlene's wounds, her broken face and leg leaking her life slowly. It stained Alissi's white dress and her hands. Her hands shook as she reached out towards the bloody face of her surrogate mother, touching it lightly. Her fingers pressed into the swelling accidentally, and gasping her pulled her hands back, clutching them against her chest. Vitaria's footsteps came closer from in front of her, and she looked up to the tall soldier with a mix of fear and apprehension, her eyes wide with the swirling emotions.

Vitaria didn't care about the girl; she simply bent down, scooping up Marlene in her powerful arms without the slightest sound, her servos easily handling the effort of lifting the light woman. "You are like me. You can stand by your own power. Marlene is not. She is human still. Not like us." Alissi looked up at the towering armored warrior, the crimson eye staring back at the girl from the hilt of her sword. She could see herself reflected there, small and insignificant.

She nodded slowly, pushing herself up onto shaky legs. She staggered for a moment, her legs not following her mind's orders as she swayed dangerously on her feet. Vitaria only looked at her, her face completely devoid of any emotion while cradling the wounded officer in her arms. Alissi took one tentative step, her legs shaking as she did so, then another, then another. She panted with the effort, something as simple as walking a terrible exertion on her body as her mind was forced to learn to send commands to her legs. After several long moments she came to stand beside Vitaria, who nodded.

"Get your items and follow me. Marlene needs medical attention, but she would want you to come with her." Vitaria said curtly, walking off in the opposite direction of the carnage. Marlene's blood dripped from her leg, leaving a small scarlet trail of her passing.

Alissi moved slowly to the wheelchair, grasping it for support as she followed the sounds of Vitaria's footsteps and the scarlet trail that Marlene had left for her to pursue.

"How is she, Doctor Helena?" Laura looked through the glass, seeing her own reflection in the clear pane. Marlene lay on a bed, various tubes poking into her body. Her head and leg were wrapped heavily with cloth, a tube leading from her mouth to a machine. A quiet and steady beeping sound could be heard through the glass, Marlene's vital signs displayed on a small data-screen.

"The worst of it is over." Helena replied with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "We very nearly lost her, Laura. We have reconstructed her face and leg with standard bionics, her brain however… Mm, that was a little more complicated. You see the blow she had taken to her head caused significant damage to her brain. We had to go through and replace various areas with cybernetics to keep it working. She'll have faster reaction time now that we've put those inside of her though. Somehow, I doubt think she'll be in the best of moods when she wakes up." Helena turned to look at Laura, giving her shoulder a re-assuring pat. "Don't worry, Marlene is a strong girl. She'll get through this. I have other patients to take care of though, and you have a court hearing on the situation of Marlene's rape and the death of those gangers." Laura grimaced, her hands balling into fists as she leaned over the small metal ridge holding the glass in place. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass.

"We have to win the competition to get off of this planet, Yuki. Things like this… What happened to my Marlene... They're too common, much, much too common." She looked over the Helena, who closed her eyes and smiled solemnly at Laura. She stepped close to her commander, turning her head and lifting her finger. She leaned close, so near that Laura could feel Helena's breath. Laura's expression wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be, either one of shock or one of disbelief.

Helena stopped her advances suddenly with the smallest intake of breath, her arm reaching around to grab a pen off the wall behind Laura. Pulling back, she immediately tapped the pen to the Commander's forehead, "Laura, do. Not. Worry." She said, still smiling, accenting each word with the tap of her pen against Laura's head. Helena bowed low before turning on her heel, her pumps making the faintest clicking sounds as she moved down the hallway, her eyes glued to the data-sheet.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Six

**Chapter Five**

**Staying Frosty**

Overhead the broken hall lights flickered illuminating for brief moments the carnage that the school had endured. The constant buzzing of feasting wings was a constant backdrop to the heavy footsteps of the Strikers. The occasional flicker of light was all that was needed to witness the horrors of the Tyranid infestation.

Young men and women, some no older than Nanoka lay propped up against walls, staring down in horror at the entrails that never should have been felt, never should have been seen. Others lay horribly mangled, with missing limbs and chunks of flesh shorn straight from the bone by ravenous teeth. The walls themselves seemed alive; such was the extent of the blood that coated the walls like oily paint. Dozens of eyes stared unblinkingly at the women as they passed, their expressions and looks in their eyes were unfading, and each a different face, but all with the same thought: Save me.

"Saint Victoria bless me, it's like Skybreak in this place." Jenell breathed, looking around her at the scenes of slaughter. She hunched her shoulder quickly, the heavy clank of ammo boxes being shifted around echoing through the silent hall.

"It's like walking into hell." Mitsuko replied, looking at the corpses. "In all my years… I've never seen such wanton killing." She shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the bodies that lay broken and scattered along the hall.

Nanoka closed her eyes. It wasn't simply the stinging of tears welling in her eyes; it was the sight of the young men and women whose lives had been cut so short. Girls her age who had been eviscerated brutally, their heads hanging at awkward angles, limbs pointed in places that they shouldn't be. Hands clutching at their bodies as if at one point they had attempted to save themselves, lips parted in screams that came unanswered. Bodies locked in the stillness of death.

The squish made by her boots as they came into contact with the ground made her stomach hop into her throat, the bite of bile at the back of her throat. She lifted her faceplate, vomiting onto the floor. Nanoka shut her eyes, not wanting to see the true picture of the scene before her. She gasped for breath, her hand pressed tightly to her stomach. Tentatively she opened her eyes, staring hard at the blackness that covered the ground until her eyes spotted a strange string of lumps.

It was intestines.

She shuddered visibly, running forward to the front of the line. The putrid smell of rotting corpses stung her nose and left an acrid taste in the back of her mouth. Shutting her faceplate she breathed deeply of the filtered air, looking back at the nine women behind her.

Jenell looked over to Nanoka, her weapon cradled in her arms casually. "First time?" she asked sincerely. Nanoka nodded with a hard gulp. Jenell smiled at her squad-mate, patting her on the back. She turned her head to face down the hallways again, the flickering lights followed by the short popping noise of sparks from a busted light.

The mangled corpses of teenaged children finally came to an end as the women entered into a wide auditorium, the rows upon rows of seats sacked nearly to the ceiling. Every so often a break in the wooden rows would occur, splitting them into four equal sections. Above each, a tattered blue paper fluttered in the gentle breeze. Both the ceiling and a section of wall had collapsed, littering the auditorium with debris. Emma took her time climbing over the shattered remains of rockcrete walls and busted steel bars. The glass in the piles of debris glinted beautifully in the moonlight, casting a lurid glow over the ten females.

"You never get used to seeing dead civilians." For just a moment Jenell paused in her speech. "Especially kids…" she added quietly. "Damn it, Nanoka, you shouldn't even be here. You're too young for this shit. You're a teenager still. You should be enjoying your childhood while you still can. Not be here in this shithole, sticking your neck out for a bunch of people you don't know."

"You were a young one too, Jenell." Mitsuko piped in, hooking her arm around the other woman's shoulder. "I still remember when you introduced yourself to the squad. You were what, sixteen?"

"Yeah, that's why I can say that, Mitsuko. I know what its like to miss out on the good parts of being a kid." Jenell returned, leaning her head into Mitsuko's shoulder. "And you can shush; you were Nanoka's age when I met you."

"Well you didn't miss out on all the good things, did you now, Jenell? Besides, you got me." Mitsuko replied, patting her arm gently. Yukari sighed, rubbing her faceplate's forehead.

"All right, if you two lovebirds are going to continue on like that I'm dumping you off in a corner somewhere." Yukari let out a breath of exasperation, lifting her helmet off her head. She clipped the heavy piece of armor to her side, breathing deeply of the pine-scented air. Jenell and Mitsuko removed their helmets shortly after, followed by the rest of the squad.

Emma looked back; her eyes alight with the moon. "I'll go and make sure that they know you're coming. It wouldn't be good if you startled them."

"All right, hurry back. Take five everyone. Catch your breath." Yukari sat down with a thud, the weight of her armor and weapon doing little to make her resting subtle. Reaching into the pack at her side she pulled out a small square object, wrapped in silver covering. Tearing it open she breathed on it briefly, the aroma of fowl and grox mixed together wafting through the air.

Nanoka looked to her left, shielding her eyes from the glinting glass with her hand. Sitting side by side a short distance away the Lancaster Twins remained perfectly silent. In the glow of the auditorium their hair was like the moonlight itself, the flowing silver locks framed pale delicate faces and the most stunning green eyes. The older of the two by seven minutes was Clare, who had the lightest jade eyes. They were practically clear, but the faintest tinge of green. The younger sister, cradled in the loving grasp of Clare, was Claes. Her eyes were the opposite of her sister's. Claes' eyes were the color of the darkest of emerald.

Clare gently caressed Claes' head, the younger sister huddling closer to the older, pressing herself to her armor, her hands lain across her older sister's lap. She smiled down at her sister, running her fingers through her hair and began to sing. Clare's voice was quiet, yet it spread through the minds of the squad members easily enough. It was soft, sweet, issued from her lips without flaw.

"Her voice is like that of an angel…" Nanoka whispered, pulling out one of her own wrapped meals, biting into it gently, her voice and heart enthralled by Clare's magnificent voice. Even in the midst of such death and destruction it brought a sense of happiness, calm, and peace to Nanoka's mind.

"I've always found the Lancaster Twins somewhat odd. There's just a feeling when you're around them that something isn't right." Yukari said, rotating herself so she was facing Nanoka. "But they're good girls. They follow orders and look after each other. Clare has good luck sometimes. Like she just knows what going to happen. As for Claes… There's just something odd about being around her, sort of like while she's there you can't really _feel_ her." Yukari shrugged, taking a swig from her canteen.

"They're cute though. They must be really close." Nanoka smiled, leaning back to stare up at the stars through the broken roof.

"Those two are closer than Saint Victoria and the Emperor, I'm telling you. There's simply no way to separate them. They won't even sleep a part from one another." Yukari looked over to her right, catching a glimpse of a certain couple. "Jenell, Mitsuko, if I hear a single moan, grunt, or groan, I'm throwing you both outside." Yukari said tersely, folding up the silver wrapper and sticking it back in the pack at her side.

Using her rifle as a cane she pushed herself up off the ground, pressing the vox-bead in her ear. "This is Sergeant Yukari; we've got some survivors inside of the schola building. We're going to check them for corruption and bring them outside for extraction."

"Affirmative, Sergeant Yukari. Report back when you have secured the packages," a female voice returned. Yukari cut the transmission, looking around at the assembled women. Gaia sat alone against the wall, staring down at the data-screen on her wrist. The screen's light lit the wood behind her, the lurid blue glow surrounding the Engineer like an aura. A short distance away two other Strikers sat around a small pict-screen, laughing at the pictures and the memories they brought back. Yukari let a smile creep onto her face, pressing her palm to her forehead.

"It's good to be home," She mumbled, looking down the hallway that Emma had disappeared into. The sound of footsteps reached her ears, and soon the ears of everyone around. Clare's voice fell silent, her hand reaching to her side for her flamer. Claes lifted her head slowly, reaching for the pistol at her hip. Her heavy missile launcher lay across the ground beside her. Emma appeared out of the enveloping darkness, the lights flickering to life behind her.

"Please follow me. Millicent and the others are awaiting your arrival with anticipation." She said, smiling. Yukari nodded, her squad picking up their weapons and personal items. They followed Emma down the hallway, which, unlike the other, only had a few corpses and blood smear against the walls that they slumped lifelessly on. Time passed with only the thud of their boots hitting the hard linoleum flooring and the creak of their armor as they looked quickly from left to right for enemies.

Inside the schola rooms papers were strewn across desks haphazardly, pencils, pens, and backpacks… hands, feet, heads, arms, legs, dead children… All were there, making the quarters messy with blood and schola equipment. Nanoka shook her head at the massacre laid out before her, looking over to Emma who seemed so calm in the face of such death when she, the savior, was disgusted past the pit of her stomach.

"Emma? Emma is that you out there?" A man asked from behind a heavy metal door at the end of the hall. He opened the viewing slit with a dull clang of metal on metal, his eyes peeking through the gap. He gasped audibly as the group of women came to a stop at the door. Disappearing from sight he shut the viewing slit. His hands wrapped around the door handle, tugging hard on the thick metal door, the sound of metal against the flooring grating on their ears until it was wide enough for the heavily armed women to slip through. The man wasn't a student like the rest, the lasgun on his shoulder and the green, brown, and black camo fatigues revealed him to be a PDF soldier.

Nanoka gasped, wiggling through the doorway with visible effort, the man on the other side of the door helping to tug her through. The metal groaned as her bulk pushed it open just a tad bit more, Nanoka finally able to slip through the gap. Jenell grinned, poking Nanoka's armor where her breasts sat secure. "You need smaller breasts, Nanoka. Yours are too big to fit through the doorway." She winked at Nanoka, who blushed at the compliment, her cheeks growing red.

"That's not true," Nanoka protested. "My breastplate is just as big as everyone else's!" Jenell chuckled for only a moment before Mitsuko dragged the woman away. "I was only playing!" Jenell protested from the corner, where girlish giggling shortly followed.

"Honestly, you two… Mitsuko, make yourself useful and check these people for infection." Yukari grumbled, looking around at the rather spacious room. Seventy pairs of eyes stared back in her direction, all of various colors, shapes and sizes. She sighed lightly, leaning up against a pillar, folding her arms under her breasts. The heavy door behind her groaned in protest of its closing, until finally, with a thud it was closed fully.

The room was well-lit by the blazing bonfire in the center of the room. The metal of desks and seats shined with the reddish-orange glow. Makeshift beds of papers, books, bags, and clothing lined the walls on bunks made of desks, bookshelves and tables. In the very back of the room books were piled haphazardly, without any sort of care, and it because clear where the fire in the center of the room had its fuel. Some of the young men and women lifted their heads from their discussions, or from the fitful rest that they had to look down upon the Strikers. Yukari lifted her head, returning their gaze before shutting her eyes.

"Nanoka, please follow me." Emma said quietly, grasping the young soldier by her hand and leading her through the assembled students. They wore tattered school uniforms, the girl's uniforms not at all dissimilar to those of the Strikers, only the skirts were longer, and the stockings were missing. The boys wore what appeared to be more akin to a blue business suit than anything else, the school's emblem sewn onto the left breast. Their eyes were sunken and dark, but the arrival of Yukari's squad had made them optimistic, and the light returned to eyes that previously had lost all hope. It was like an electric jolt ran through the crowd of students, excitement running high. Voices grew louder as everyone strove to speak over one another. The students reached out to her, touching her armor, her hair, her face, her hands, any part of her that they could grasp.

"What did you tell them about us, Emma-chan?" Nanoka asked, pulled along by the vigorous student.

"That you were here to save us. That you rescued me and killed the monster. You will kill the rest of the monsters. Won't you?" Emma asked, squeezing Nanoka's hand.

"Of course she will." A tall woman spoke. She leapt off the upper level of one of the bunks, landing on her feet. "She _is_ the angel who is here to save us after all. My name is Millicent Novia Plox." She held out her hand which Nanoka took, giving it a firm squeeze.

Millicent nodded, looking behind her to some of the students heaving in a large metal drum that sloshed nosily. Millicent turned her eyes back to Nanoka. They were strange, her irises looked more like bursts of black than the simple dark brown that most of the other student had. Nanoka didn't seem to notice. "But you can call me Milly. Everyone does." She tilted her head, looking past Nanoka to view Mitsuko, who moved throughout the crowd of students, pressing their fingers to the data-pad at her wrist. "What is she doing?"

"Checking them for infection. Yukari-sama doesn't want to take any of the infected out of here. It'll just make things worse for everyone after we've cleared out this city." Nanoka answered, smiling at Millicent. "Are you the leader of these students?"

"Yes, I'm not sure how. I'm an off-worlder, just came to see the sights. I heard it was lovely here, but, it seems like I picked the wrong time to visit." She chuckled dryly, scratching the back of her head. "When all this trouble started the soldiers said the schola was a safe place for young men and women. We're what are left."

"How do you survive in this place? I mean, water and food must be low." Nanoka looked around at the assembled students.

Hunters go out and find food and water three times a day. We ration what we have and try to keep it so everyone gets a fair share the soldiers were kind enough to leave us some medical supplies as well. As for fuel, well, this place was a librarium; the… books… make for good burning." She said, looking at the stacks and stacks of book with sorrow and regret. "So when do we leave?"

"Not any time soon, unfortunately." Yukari said, moving to stand behind Nanoka. "Nanoka-chan, we've got contacts on the auspex. Fast movers, probably stealers or advanced cultists." She looked over to Millicent, whose expression turned to one of worry. "Sorry, Plox-sama, but we've got company. We'll be engaging the targets outside of the room. Try to keep everyone quiet so they don't attract attention to this room." Yukari turned on her heel, checking the ammunition counter on the side of her rifle.

"Well, Milly-chan. It looks like we'll have to cut this meeting short. I'll see you when I come back." She turned quickly, following Yukari's footsteps.

The door swung open with its typical slow stubbornness, and as Clare and Claes passed through the doorway swung closed all too quickly. Yukari moved into the hallway, looking down the passage. "Gaia, where are they?" Yukari asked her voice tight.

"Incoming, two-hundred-thirty meters down the way we came and closing fast. I think we should move into the auditorium and engage the targets there. That's the only way in here, and the benefit of difficult terrain and cover will work to our advantage."

"Roger. Clare, you're on point. If you see any of those bastards roast 'em." Yukari motioned with her hand for the squad to move forward, falling into formation after Claes. She ignored the uncomfortable feeling that pressed at her mind the second she moved in behind Claes with practiced ease. They quick walked down the hallways, their eyes trained forward, the mounds of rubble and glass that were so familiar glinting in the moonlight just as before.

The squad of Strikers entered the auditorium, fanning out to the left and right, hunkering down behind the piles of rockcrete and glass. They steadied their weapons on whatever piece of stable they could find using their bipods. Clare and Claes stood nearest the door, their silver hair reflecting the moonlight as easily as the glass. They seemed like goddesses.

"Thirty meters!" Gaia shouted, her voice echoing off the acoustics in the auditorium.

"Jenell-chan, _ai shiteru_." Mitsuko blew a kiss to Jenell, who grinned, grabbing at air with her hand and placing it over her heart.

"_Ai shiteru_, Mitsuko." Jenell returned, the scrabbling of claws urging her to train her eye down the sight of her squad-automatic-weapon.

The first cultist rushed through the doorway, seemingly unaware of the Strikers hidden behind the rubble, their armor helping them to blend in. In his hands he held a lasgun, his clothing the torn fatigues of a PDF trooper. He looked around for several moments before staring straight forward, the sounds of claws on the linoleum flooring resuming as more and more cultists filed into the room in twos and threes.

As a mob they moved together their boots and clawed feet crunching into the dirt and debris of the wide open space. Yukari held her breath for but a moment as Clare bolted upright, her finger tightening around the trigger of her flamer. Scorching promethium shot from the barrel of the flamer, coating the turned PDF trooper and the other behind him in the flaming substance. The cultists fell to the ground, their bodies immolated even as they flailed and thrashed around on the cold stone floor. The trooper's lasgun cooked off in the heat, exploding violently. Shrapnel tore into his flaming body after the initial explosion of energy tore off his arm and part of his chest cavity. The cultists behind him that had suffered the flamer's stopped their movements, still burning as the flesh melted down to slag, and then the bones as well.

More cultists poured through the doorway only to be met with the withering hail of fire from Jenell's machine-gun. The explosive rounds blasted bloody chunks of chitin and flesh from the hybrids. Their torn bodies fell amongst those of the young men and women that they had butchered in spreading pools of black blood. The cultists returned fire on the Strikers, Clare ducking down to avoid a burst of automatic fire from a trooper's lasgun. The las stitched up the mound of rubble, sending debris flying through the air. Yukari took careful aim down her sight before pulling the trigger, the single shot tearing through the cultist's skull in a spray of blood.

"Well I'll be damned, my shot didn't detonate. Stupid experimental weapons!" Yukari shouted, letting off a short burst of automatic fire down the dark hallway. Her shots were responded in kind by a high-pitched squeal, the missile rocketing out of the path. Yukari ducked with a violent curse, the fragmentation missile detonating with its deadly payload against the up-turned piece of rockcrete she took cover behind. Dust billowed out from around her ankles. Her ears ringing violently with the explosion

"Claes! Shove a missile down that frakker's throat!" Yukari barked, leaning out from around her cover. She held down the trigger, her body rocking with the weapon's recoil, but she held it steady. The spent shell casings clattered to the ground with their distinctive _'clink'_ sound, bouncing on the rubble-strewn flooring. She whipped herself back inside of cover just as a burst of las slammed against the rockcrete, blasting pieces away from its weakened structure.

Claes nodded briefly; lowering her missile launcher she slid a small rocket with a blue fragmentation band around the warhead into the long metal tube. Lifting the heavy weapon onto her shoulder she took careful aim down the advanced sights of her weapon, the hallways lit up with the bright green of her night vision sights. She didn't aim the missile launcher at one of the many moving forms, but at the flooring they stood on. There was a quiet thump, then the squeal of rocket propulsion. The missile screamed from the launcher, kicking up the dust and debris behind her.

The missile impacted the flooring of the hallway detonating explosively with a bright flash of yellow, red, and orange. Shrapnel from both the missile and the floor itself tore into the cultists and the unfeeling bodies of the dead students, blood and viscera slicking the floor already occupied by the long deceased. Claes lowered her heavy weapon, ducking back behind the safety of her mound. "Reloading!" She shouted - her voice no less angelic than her sister's - sliding another one of the fragmentation missiles down the tube. Puffs of dust and chips of rockcrete were kicked up by las lancing from the hallway.

"Roger, covering." Nanoka shouted back. She focused her eyes down the sight of her weapon, firing off short controlled bursts down the corridor and was rewarded with screams of inhuman pain.

The cultists stopped firing suddenly the sounds of combat abruptly ending. The silence afterward left their ears ringing with the noise of battle. They remained tense however, the group of women not moving from their positions, their eyes peeled down the sights and scopes of their weapons. It was silent except for the rustling of the trees outside of the schola and the whispers of the wind in their ears and a faint whirring sound that came from the corridor.

The group of cultists had regrouped at the far end of the winding hallway and brought a surprise with them. Hunkered down behind the torn bodies of students and slain cultists they deployed a heavy bolter. The whirring sound returned to the air again as the weapon spooled up, its seven barrel rotating faster and faster the whirring becoming louder and more pronounced.

"Yukari-sama, what the hell is that noise?" Gaia asked.

"Damn me if I know. I've never heard it before." Yukari replied, poking her head out from around the slab of rockcrete to look down the corridor. "I can't see shit down that hallway. Talia, can you see anything?"

"Only corpses, Sergeant. I don't see anything else." The sniper replied, shifting the rifle pressed to her shoulder to make it a bit more comfortable. She swept her weapon along the hall, her trained eyes looking for anything searching for anything out of the ordinary until she caught something. The faintest trace of movement from a strangely stacked pile of corpses, Talia arched an eyebrow at the odd sight.

"I do see something, Sergeant. Wait a sec… shit!" She yelled, ducking down behind her pile of debris, heavy bolter rounds slamming hard into the rockcrete slab, blasting chunks of the building material away. The deadly shrapnel scattered around the area, the bolter round leaving Talia's mound as they swiftly began making their way across the room, blowing craters in the ground the size of a fist.

The weapon's shots whizzed past Nanoka's face, cutting away strands of hair, sending dust and chips of stone into Nanoka's face. Gasping, the young woman ducked down behind her mound of cover, her eyes wide.

"Stay frosty people!" Yukari shouted above the heavy bolter rounds impacting into the rockcrete behind her. She could feel the explosive rounds against her back through the rockcrete as massive pieces were blown away, leaving jagged circles where there had been none before. "Saint Victoria damn these frakkers. This is seriously starting to piss me off!"

"Yukari-sama, we've got trouble! Those fast-movers are back and coming straight for us down the hall!" Gaia shouted, the grey mound she hid behind pelted by a hail of explosive rounds.

"Clare Claes, get back over here!" Yukari ordered, peeking out from around the corner. Her gun spat a stream of bullets, the rounds tearing into the wall of bodies used as cover by the heavy bolter team. Chunks of flesh and occasionally the crimson mist of blood were tossed carelessly into the air. Yukari shot back behind the cover of her rockcrete slab, the appreciation of her counter-attack shown as the heavy bolter focused its attention on her.

She could feel the chunk beginning to weaken, the impact of the heavy bolter rounds much more pronounced. She spat off to the side, putting her weight on her back leg. She roared, leaping out from behind the slab just in time to see it blasted into two separate pieces, the top half falling with a sharp crack, splintering on the ground where she had stood only moments before. Yukari landed hard rolling behind the large mound of debris that Nanoka was hunkered down behind.

"Enjoying yourself, Nanoka-chan?" She panted, grinning at the other woman.

"I don't even remember why the hell I signed up for this job!" Nanoka shouted, poking her head up to deliver a short burst of return fire, the empty shells red hot and falling into the gaps of Yukari's armor.

"Ouch! Son of a… Move over Nanoka that shit burns!" Yukari barked, fishing the red hot casings out of her armor. "Tccch! Hot, hot, hot!" She said, flinging the last out of her chest-plate.

"Sorry, Yukari-sama!" Nanoka returned, ducking down behind the pile.

"Gaia-chan, what is the ETA on those fast-movers?"

"You won't like my answer! They're about 92 meters from our current location." Gaia shouted back, aiming down the sight of her grenade launcher. With a dull _thump _the grenade ejected from the launcher, rocketing down the hallway to explode with devastating force. The heavy bolter fell silent, the whirring sound dying off slowly.

The Twins slid into home, the gravel rumbling underneath their armor. Clare tapped Mitsuko on the shoulder. The medicae looked down at Clare, nodding before she bolted from one mound of debris to the other, sliding in to Jenell's cover. She smiled up at her Jenell, who grinned back, her finger tightening on the trigger. For a brief moment her body jerked back with the recoil until her armor reacted to it, absorbing the impact of the weapon. The muzzle flash lit her face, her steel blue eyes reflecting the light of her automatic weapon.

Explosive bullets rained down like a volley of death upon the hallway, shredding bodies. Flesh was sheared away from bone, the bones bursting that tore through the living cultists apart. Mutated bodies fell in heaps. Severed limbs, torsos, and heads choked the path with casualties.

As the gunsmoke and dust dispersed from the decimated auditorium the Striker's rifles fell silent, the final casing hitting the ground with a clink that for some reason seemed louder than any other noise before it. Soon, the only sounds in the room was the quiet panting of the weary females, their bodies coming down from the excitement and adrenaline highs of combat, and the shifting gravel under their boots.

"I think… I think we got them, Yukari-sama. I'm not reading any more movement on the auspex." Gaia panted, resting her head against the grey hump of earth and debris. She looked down at her wrist-pad before shutting it with a sigh of exhausted relief.

"All right. Sakura-san, Paige-san, you two are on point. We'll check the dead for intel, then get back to Millicent and her group. We'll get them the hell out of here." Yukari ordered. She stood up, shouldering her rifle. She offered only a passing glance to the hallway as she turned to look at Gaia, but a flash of shadows in her peripheral vision caused her to whip her head around quickly. She squinted, focusing on the hallway.

"What is it, Yukari-sama?" Nanoka asked, following her gaze to the hallway. There was a quick flicker of light, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"I thought I saw something moving." Yukari replied. She squinted one last time before shaking her head with an exasperated sigh.

Sakura and Paige moved slowly, their boots hitting the blood slicked deck with a muffled silence, their bootprints filled in by the ever flowing blood that seeped from the broken bodies of the cultists. Occasionally the hall light would flicker, grim signs of the carnage that their guns had wrecked on the mutants illuminated.

Gore floated in the puddle of blood, shattered chips of bone flecking the dark crimson with specks of white. The light flickered again, Nanoka's eyes catching glimpse of a man, his chest cavity blown apart, a hole the size of her head punched clear through. Half his head was sheared away, the heated brain spilling out of his skull like wet oats, sliding down the missing side of his face to drip viscously to the ground. The lights died abruptly again, leaving the hallway shrouded in darkness, only the faintest slivers of light coming from the auditorium.

The lights flickered and died again, Jenell moving up to stand along-side Sakura. She glanced down to the crouching soldier, who scratched her head. She looked confused. "Jenell-san, what does that look like to you?" She asked, pointing down at the object in question.

Jenell raised an eyebrow, crouching down to observe alongside Sakura just what it was that perplexed the woman so much. Jenell stared at the object through the haze of darkness, her brow now perk in curiosity as well. "It looks… sort of like a tail." Jenell said, following the faint outline of the appendage.

Maybe it was simply by divine intervention that the lights flickered, the scything talon illuminated by the glare of the overhead lights. Jenell's eyes widened her reaction only slightly faster than that of the hidden genestealer.

"Move, Sakura!" She shouted, tackling the woman aside. The blade came down swiftly, slicing through her armor as easily as paper, a spray of arterial blood making the bone razor glisten with crimson liquid.

Jenell fell amongst the bodies of cultists and students alike, her blood spurting from the slash in her chest. Sakura slammed hard against the wall, the breath knocked from her lungs, but it wasn't enough to prevent her from seeing the genestealer rise up from the corpses that littered the ground.

Sakura brought her rifle up, holding the weapon with one hand. Her finger tightened on the trigger, the faint click from the trigger before the weapon jerked hard in her hand, snapping her wrist with a sound that echoed not quite as loud as the thunderous clap of the gun. The head and body of the genestealer parted, the explosive power of her bullets severing the two from one another in a flash of red light. Slowly the genestealer fell, joining the pile of death that surrounded the hallway with a dull _thump_.

"Jenell," Mitsuko breathed, rolling her lover over the slash in Jenell's chest spurting warm blood up into Mitsuko's face. Mitsuko's eyes widened, her hands shakily pulling a roll of gauze from her medical bag at her side, wiping the blood away from her eyes with her wrist. "Don't give up on me Jenell," she said her voice tight with tears. She swallowed her, pressing her fingers to the critical points of the wound. Yukari knelt down to the opposite side of Mitsuko, pulling off her gauntlets.

"What do you need me to do, Mitsuko-san?" Yukari asked, looking down at the pale face of Jenell. The woman shivered, her blue eyes dark.

"M-Mitsuko," She said weakly, her voice no higher than a whisper. Her hand, shaking and pale, rose up to touch her cheeks, and gently, Jenell smiled through teeth stained red with blood. "Ai…" She paused, blood loss leaving her short of breath, panting for even the simplest words.

Mitsuko interrupted her, shaking her head frantically. "You can tell me tonight when we're together, okay, Jenell? You'll be fine," She broke down, stabbing a needle filled with a vile-looking yellow liquid into Jenell's chest. Tears fell from her eyes, and quickly she whipped them away, her gauntlet leaving a cut across her cheek. "You'll be fine!" she shouted. "Don't stop fighting for me Jenell. You can't stop!"

"You sh- should really l-learn to let people… finish… silly girl..." Jenell's face twisted in pain, her heart slowing. Gently she coughed, blood running from her lips and misting in the air. Mitsuko lifted her in her arms, hugging the dying woman with all her strength.

"Please… please Jenell… don't leave me! I love you…" Her voice became tighter, "so… so… you can't leave. You can't!" she sobbed, Jenell's lifeless form unresponsive in her grasp. Jenell's blue eyes and kindness died along with her, the final breath mocking laughter in the face of her doom. Mitsuko hugged the body tighter to her breast, tears spilling from her eyes endlessly. Her choking sobs echoed through the hall.

Sakura stood up, her face shadowed except for her eyes. The lights flickered again then died. "I'm sorry, Mitsuko… It's my fault that…" She paused, her voice choked with tears. "my fault that… she's gone. If I'd only been a bit quicker, paid a little more attention… I'm sorry, I'm better than that. Really, I am…" Sakura turned away, walking out of the hallway, her gun held in her unbroken hand.

Nanoka stepped forward, looking as if she were going to say something. Yukari held her arm out, stopping the young soldier. She shook her head slowly, "Mitsuko has to deal with this herself. Only she can." Yukari whispered in Nanoka's ear, turning her around. With a gentle shove Yukari pushed Nanoka out of the hallway, the remainder of her squad following. _Its strange_ Nanoka thought, looking at the way Yukari went to such great lengths to hold herself ramrod straight and to hide her eyes carefully from anyone who would seek to look.

Mitsuko appeared several minutes later, the body of Jenell in her arms. Her eyes were red and puffy, solitary tears rolling down the paths made in her dusty face. Yukari turned to look at her, nodding quickly.

"Let's go back. We'll report Jenell's death in the morning. Everyone should get some rest tonight. I'll keep watch. Everyone… Listen, I know that losing Jenell is hard. Believe me, I know, but we can't let her death get in the way of our job here. They've taken from us a friend. We'll take from them everything." Yukari said with forced lack of emotion. She was the first and the quickest to turn away from the hallway, but stopped mid-step, turning to face Clare.

"Burn that hallway." She said, her eyes blazing with anger. "Burn it to hell." She turned away, from behind all one could see was her raising a bare hand to her face. She gave a quick shake of her head, slamming her fist against the nearby wall, denting it before storming off down the hallway towards the sanctuary.


	6. Background Information

**Name:** 256th Strikers

**Motto: **Sacrifice is our duty as Heroines of the Imperium.

**Homeworld:** Kivat System (402, 204)

**History:** To truly understand the history of the 256th Strikers, one must examine the world itself. Kivat was originally comprised of settlers from three different pre-Imperium nations, Germany, England, and Japan. Kivian society is rigid and very much restricting. While men enjoy unrestricted freedom, the women have only three life choices. Prostitute, mother, or soldier. Even so few chose the latter. Because of this, the Strikers are comprised almost solely of female combatants. Kivat is a world at war with a sentient alien race on a nuclear wasteland that once belonged to the settler's sprawling cities. This race is known as the Batholisks terrifying creatures that vary in size, strength, shape, and natural weaponry. From the fearsome Warrior with its four powerful claws and incredible speed, to the Flyer with its wingspan, maneuverability, and legendary silence in flight, to the Tank a massive heavily armored beast, capable of plowing through the thickest building walls and taking a battle cannon round with ease. The sheer weight of numbers forced the colonists to higher ground, where massive metropolises are built into mountains, on top of plateaus and on massive airships that span the skies for miles around. Life is difficult, as resources are scarce with so much devoted to the war effort, and the constant threat of incursion has led the world to become highly individualistic and technologically advanced. With the assistance of the Imperium of Mankind the war planet side has gone well, and the cities that once belonged to humanity are slowly being reclaimed.

**Fighting Style:** Every regiment raised on Kivat is one made veteran cityfighters and refer to themselves as 'Strikers'. Adept at dropping into the ruins of cities and using every bit of cover to attack, secure, and defend a city from counter-attacks by years of service, Strikers regiments are highly prized for their expertise. The Strikers do not use heavy weapons like autocannons and Lascannons, preferring to travel light and fast to keep the advantage of cover, yet carapace armor is standard issue, along with the fire systems and life-support that comes with the package. Strikers are not shy of hand-to-hand fighting, and refuse to shirk from combat in the face of overwhelming odds. This could be the reason for the foot-and-a-half long blades at each arm. Only after demonstrating immense leadership is a Guardsman elevated to the rank of Sergeant, there is no such thing as a green NCO. The regiment is led in the field by the uncompromising Commander Laura Watson and her Vice Commander Marlene Benneseph, recipient of the famed the Honorifica Imperialis. Marlene has over 4 Crimson Medallions, two Kivian Distinguished Sacrificial Crosses, and five Distinguished Service medallions. Laura is the recipient of the Macharian Cross and a Crimson Medallion herself.

**Equipment:** The standard Guardswoman is armed with a lasrifle, frag and krak grenades and Carapace armor. Sergeants are armed similarly to their squad mates, in exception of the chainswords and laspistols, and carapace armor. Given the dark and hazardous nature of their own planet, and the issues with Dropping from high altitudes, Kivian regiments are all issued with a specialized Kivian drop helmet. The helmet's faceplate is modeled to that of a skull, the eyes a dark blue. The helmet is filled with equipment: comm.-links, infrared and night-vision sights and a complex targeting and priority screen that is linked with the Sergeant's. The Kivian lasrifle is unique in the sense that it does not fire a bare energy bolt like normal lasguns, but instead uses a unique Cartridge system, a blending of powerful auto-gun technology with the reliability and strength of las-tech. The Kivat-Pattern lasgun uses a high caliber round with a tip of las-energy, causing an explosive wound with excellent armor penetration and decent strength factor. Unfortunately, such powerful rounds are prone to jamming the lasrifle, and the warhead contained with the round may not always detonate.

**Quirks: **Oddly enough, while the uniform of Kivian Strikers is standard in both armor and dress, hair styles and color are not monitored in the slightest. As such, there is a vast assortment of strange and exotic hair colors, but as far as style nothing too off-the-wall, they're soldiers after all.

Due to issues with the Mechanicus for the entire time the planet has been a part of the Imperium (science is bad mkay?) Kivian equipment is not made on forge world and does not use STC templates. Everything is made planet-side with designs meant to boost the effectiveness not of the Imperial Guard but of the PDF forces fighting on the planet to ensure that it isn't taken over. There are no tanks and no artillery in any of the regiments, as such slow moving and static objects are useless in the fighting that rages on the ground. Tanks have been taken by heavily armed walkers, ensuring heavy support with better mobility than that which is offered by a tank. Because of repeated attacks by Mechanicus officials Kivat has effectively cut off itself off from the support of any Mechanicus affiliated assistance. For the most part, Kivat fights its war alone.

Kivian rank structure is odd in the sense that it only has 3 officer ranks. With the general size of a company (only 100-200 women) Lieutenants are often taken place by Sergeants. Instead of Colonel, they have a Commander; instead of Captains they have Sub-Commanders. The rank of Vice-Commander seems to fit with the rank of Major. Striker 1st, 2nd Class are the same as Private and Corporal, respectively.

The Strikers often speak of a 'Saint Victoria'. This person is, for sake of simplicity, their Jesus. They believe that the Emperor took on the form of a human woman to lead the Kivians to victory in the time of their most dire hour.


End file.
